From 2016 to 2018, I was a member of the Equity Ambassadors: an advisory, support, and advocacy group for domestic students of color in the Honors Program at Minnesota State University Mankato. Our goal was to enact real, positive change in the Honors Program to make it more inclusive and safe for all students.As the enrollment of domestic students of color decreased disproportionally in honors programs nationwide, the Equity Ambassadors wanted to ensure that our program remained accessible and inclusive. Therefore, in the Fall of 2018, we conducted a study to evaluate this. Our study was in the form of a survey and it asked domestic students of color questions about their thoughts and perceptions of MSU Mankato’s Honors Program as well as what other activities they were involved in on and off campus. The results of this study provided numerous reasons for why domestic students of color don’t apply to become part of the Honors Program. We presented these results at the 3rdannual conference of the National Society for Minorities in Honors (NSFMIH) which was held at the University of Central Arkansas in October 2018. 

 

Being part of this research project allowed me to meet Levels 1-3 of the Dissemination of Results section in the Research competency. While working on obtaining the Institution Review Board (IRB) approval for our research project, we identified the venue for dissemination of our results with the help of the Honors Program Assistant Director, Ginny Walters. She heard about the National Society for Minorities in Honors (NSFMIH) after attending the 2017 National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) Conference in Atlanta, Georgia where she did a presentation on diversity. After hearing about our research project, she recommended that we apply to present at this conference since it was fitting to our theme. With Ginny’s guidance, we prepared and submitted a proposal for the student poster session in which we provided information on the Equity Ambassadors group, our purpose and mission statement, and the goal and progress of our research project. After a few weeks of waiting, we received approval from both the IRB to complete our research project and the NSFMIH to present our results at their conference. Once the survey was conducted, we analyzed and displayed our results on a poster which we presented to honors students and faculty from across the nation on the second day of the NSFMIH Conference in Conway, Arkansas. 

 

Although this research project successful surveyed a fair amount of people, I would still like to learn how our survey results would’ve change if we had had responses from a more diverse population. Regardless, this experience allowed me to practice writing and submitting an abstract proposal for a national conference, which is a skill I’ll apply when writing educational proposals for my classroom and/or school as a future music educator.