Honor students explore the geography of death
The honor students at Saddleback College held a poster viewing displaying the information they researched about the geography of death around the world.
“At professional geography conferences there is always room for poster sessions, for people who want to present their research on a poster compared to speaking about it,” said Mareen Smith, a geography instructor.
Smith decided to do something different other than requiring a ten page paper for her class.
“For the idea of geography of death, students had to find a region of the world outside the United States, not American deaths abroad, but it had to be a different group or region that are basically dying of something,” Smith said. “The research was supposed to relate the why to where and to figure out why it is specifically happening to these people in this region and maybe thoughts on the their conclusions and how to fix it.”
One student did her research on the femicide in Mexico.
“It’s in relation to the drug war that is happening, and because of the cartels and the gang activity there are a lot of women who are subjected to that violence and through the years that violence has begun to soar and its even spreading into the United States,” said Talia Samuels 19, Spanish linguistics communications, an honors student at Saddleback. “I wrote about why it is an international issue and why the world should be paying more attention to it.”
Other geography students participated in the event for extra credit. They studied posters and asked honor students questions about their research. The event provided refreshments and snacks for those who participated.
“This year we got a lot more people to show up,” Smith said. “It has been a great turnout.”