ALTOONA, Pa. — Five Penn State Altoona students presented at the Kappa Delta Pi (KDP) International Education Honor Society Convocation held in Norfolk, Virginia, Oct. 23-27. The students are members of the college's Alpha Epsilon Pi chapter of KDP.
Chapter president Myranda Oswalt presented her poster, “Engaging Literacy and English Language Learning,” using empirical research to support a direct application experience provided in a course on English language learning with Freyca Calerderon-Berumen.
Chapter treasurer Madilynn Whittaker presented "Building Community Through Literacy" which emphasized English language learners, lower-income children, and the importance of emergent literacy skills positively correlating to later self and reading competencies.
Chapter vice president Alyssa Cumming presented her poster, "Children with Autism and Using Applied Behavioral Interventions." Cumming's empirical topic was inspired by Penn State Altoona's autism course with Laura Lance.
Natalie Nardelli, chapter secretary, offered "Intended and Unintended Benefits of the Chapter's Service Projects," which focused on statistics related to children in Blair County requiring special services.
Chapter service coordinator Allison Church presented a 15-minute Power Talk during the break-out session "Awareness of Suicide Ideation Among Children." Church presented statistics of this nation-wide epidemic along with tips and resources for teachers to use in their classrooms.
The chapter's counselor, Lynn Nagle, instructor in education and psychology, offered the Power Talk "Childhood Suicide Prevention and Creating a Culture of Care, Aevidum." Nagle's session focused on preventive levels and gaps in the current school system's mental health programming and included information on Aevidum, the free, non-profit movement to create a school culture conducive to caring and emotional competence.
During the convocation, students took part in break-out sessions and workshops and attended presentations. They also received free memberships to the International Kappa Delta Pi Educator Learning Network where low-cost professional development courses can be taken.
This was the 53rd International Convocation of Kappa Delta Pi.