IMPACT
Co k e r SI FE P l ac e s i n To p 40 i n Nati o n a l Co m pe t i t i o n Following a win in the regional competition in New York City in April, Coker College’s Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) team placed in the top 40 in the national competition in Kansas City, Mo., May 26.
IMPACT
Three Biology Major s Presented Rese arch at International conference Three Coker College biology students, the only undergraduates in attendance, presented research at the 11th European Conference of Fungal Genetics held in April at the Philipps-Universität/Max Planck Institute of Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg, Germany. More than 650 participants from 38 countries attended the conference, which included plenary lectures and poster sessions about new developments in fungal genetics. Coker’s Megan Sexton, a rising senior, Sara Atkinson, a rising junior, and Rebecca Armentrout, who graduated in May, presented their research project entitled, “Interrogating the transcriptomes of developmental mutants to identify conidiation-specific genes in Fusarium graminearum,” during a poster session of the conference. They were accompanied by their research advisor, Coker College Associate Professor of Biology and Director of Undergraduate Research Joseph Flaherty. “Coker’s students were able to enjoy not only the scientifically exciting and thoughtprovoking aspects of the meeting,” said Flaherty, “but also the charm of the medieval city of Marburg.” In addition to the lectures, participants had opportunities to meet and discuss their research with each other during coffee and cake breaks. Guided tours were also available to participants interested in exploring the historic town. The conference concluded with a dinner at the Marburg Castle.
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C A M P U S I S S U E
“To be named among the top 40 of 160 SIFE teams in the country, particularly in just their second year, is an outstanding achievement for our students,” said Coker College President Robert Wyatt. “The competition at the national level is especially difficult and highly competitive, and no other second-year team placed as well this year,” Wyatt added. “While I am exceedingly proud of our team’s continued efforts and expansion over this past year, I am equally appreciative of the support of our campus and the Hartsville community, whose collaborative efforts made an important difference.” Last year, Coker College’s SIFE team placed in the top 60 of the nation and won Rookie of the Year. SIFE USA is the oldest and largest of the 39 SIFE country operations and with some 4,000 students, faculty and executives in attendance, the SIFE National Exposition represents the largest gathering of SIFE network members anywhere in the world. Coker’s presentation, a 24-minute multimedia production, featured highlights from many of the projects they supported during the 2011-12 academic year, which included, for the first time, an international service project. Three SIFE students, Cody Ellison, Kaitlynn Jessup and Lindsey Allen, traveled with College staff to Muhuru Bay, Kenya. While there, they helped open a Learning Resource Center for the community. A renovated building purchased by Coker SIFE to house a library and multiple vocational training classrooms, the Center is the only facility of its kind in the town. The project was originally developed through a contact of Associate Professor of Communication Richard Puffer and now includes a partnership with Maseno University in Nairobi and two other SIFE Teams: SIFE Maseno and SIFE Kenya. This year, Coker SIFE’s campus programs included launching a recycling program in the residence halls in conjunction with Sonoco’s recent community-wide recycling effort; teaching Finance 199, a
financial literacy course for both evening and day students at Coker; and hosting College to Career, an event designed to help students develop proficiencies in professional etiquette and protocols. Local programs the team supported this year included: • K almia Gardens Second Annual Duck Cup; • M arketing support for Hartville downtown businesses; • P ee Dee Mobile, an iPhone business directory for Hartsville and Florence, S.C.; • S AT Prep, a program to help college-bound high school students prepare for college admissions examinations; and • F reedom Schools, a reading-based program administered by the Children’s Defense Fund to provide summer programming for elementary school students that began in Hartsville this summer. Six students served on the presentation team: Brianna Fowler, Kaitlynn Jessup, Eren Moses, Tyler Senecal, Tyler Staub and Timothy Strickland. The other team members included Lindsey Allen, Adam Bedard, Lucas Britt, Jessica Covington, Cody Ellison, Leslie Hanna, Austin Harper, Sarah Kinsey, Matthew Kreider, Noah Lascell, Mark Nankervis, Halee Polson, James Sweeney, Jasmine Brown, Steve Marciano and Amy Nelson. They were accompanied by Wyatt and SIFE Director Benjamin Chastain and advised by Brianna Douglas, Coker College human resource manager. For more information about Coker’s SIFE program, contact Chastain at bchastain@coker.edu. To learn more about the SIFE network, visit www. sife.org.
WEB E X TR A S To find out about the SIFE team, visit: coker.edu/current-top-stories/2018coker-sife-places-in-top-40-innational-competition.html
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