HAPPY Hour Student Showcase

What is the HAPPY Hour Student Showcase?

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One of the best ways to grow professionally is through participation in professional conferences.  The HAPPY Hour Student Showcase, which simulates a professional conference experience, highlights our teacher candidates as presenters.  The Showcase is a forum for students to share their best work with their peers during a 30- or 45-minute time slot in an in-house conference venue.  This is a tremendous opportunity for professional development in which students can enhance their scholarship and presentational skills.  Student presenters engage in a powerful mentoring relationship with faculty as they progress through all steps of the presentation process – from brainstorming a presentation topic, to writing a presentation proposal, to honing one’s presentation, to actually presenting at the Showcase. This experience, which can be included on one’s professional resume, shows initiative and a desire to be a life-long learner, attributes highly valued by future employers.   

What are the benefits to student presenters in the HAPPY Hour Student Showcase?

Student presenters:

• have a chance to share work of which they are very proud.
• learn the process of submitting proposals for a conference.
• be able to hone their presentational skills.   
• participate in a real-life professional development experience.   
• gain experience that they can include in their professional portfolios and resumes. 
• qualify for a $500 scholarship that will enable them to attend a professional conference of their choice

What are suitable topics for presentation?
Previous topics have included the following:

• Assignments students have completed and of which they were proud
• Strategies/activities learned in classes, workshops, internships, field experiences, conferences, etc.
• Projects about which students are enthusiastic
• Talents related to education that can be easily taught to the audience
• A strategy that worked during one’s internship and/or tips for remaining during ones' internship

How do I get involved as a presenter?

• Refer to the HAPPY Hour Student Showcase Presenter Handbook. 
• If possible, attend some of the fall HAPPY Hour workshops on presenting at the Showcase and how to write a proposal to present at the Showcase.    
• Student presenters are mentored throughout the entire presentation process by interested faculty/advisors and members of the HAPPY Hour Committee.
• In mid-January, a HAPPY Hour workshop on “Presenting Your Presentation” is dedicated solely to honing student presenters’ presentation skills. 

When is this year’s HAPPY Hour Student Showcase?
This year’s Showcase is:

Date: Saturday, January 26, 2013
Time: 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Whom do I contact for more information?

Contact: Dr. Karen Verkler, HAPPY Hour Chair
Office: ED 220L