It was a moody Saturday, with an overcast sky and freezing winds that blew drizzle towards you. In comparison, the inside of the Macaulay building was humming with energy. I was among many students from throughout New York, gathered inside on two floors to showcase our semester of hard-work. Students displayed various levels of care and devotion, from serious -the ones in business attire- to relaxed -the ones in casual clothes-. I fell into the more relaxed set of people, setting up my poster with my group members Alec, Nicole and Sara, and afterwards leaned against a wall while using my phone. After some time, we were directed to present our posters to passing students and faculty or to wander the two floors filled with posters and students.
Each group presented posters on many different topics, from ecology to physics. Each poster exuded the amount time and effort that the groups and its members devoted. And just as topics widely varied, so to did the information gathering carried out by the students. Some students collected their own data and some utilized public data from several agencies. Many students presented with passion and pride in their work while ours grimaced at the difficulty and failures of their methodology, data, and poster.
Regarding our poster, my group and I presented with no prepared speeches. We knew enough about our subject and our poster that we could discuss them on the spot. We did make a few mistakes, which irked me inside, but it was a successful presentation.
Nearing the end of the session, people had consumed their energy and had begun to leave, not knowing that there was a final event. It was an awards event in recognition the best posters decided by the students. My group won “Best in Show” due to pure luck, we were second place in this category but the first place group had packed up and left early. We won by default and made for a good laugh between my group members. Overall, it was a somewhat fun 3 hours spent on a disgusting Saturday afternoon.
