Video made with the assistance of Samuel Ortega ’25
All George Whitworth Honors students complete an individual project as part of their Honors Curriculum, cultivating skills of problem-solving, project proposals, and project management.
Projects may be academic or applied but in some way reflect the Honors Program’s Mission:
“The Whitworth Honors Program challenges talented and motivated scholars to pursue excellence of mind and heart, to cultivate leadership qualities and skills, and to commit to lives of service. The Honors Program does more than guide scholars to navigate the world as it is; it equips them to solve problems and to develop the world as it should be.”
My research is specifically looking at Whitworth and how they treat sexual violence on campus. I looked into what resources and programs there are for sexual violence survivors on this campus or any education about what sexual violence is for the rest of the student body. What I found was scarce, not only the research around Christian colleges and sexual assault, but also the resources on this campus for students.
ANGELA WESSEL Class of 2024. I am currently pursuing a B.B.A., with a management concentration. I also have theology and sociology minors, and career-wise I’m
Hannah Stoddard, who is majoring in international studies, found that Honors has given her a way to connect her major, her personal experiences, and her passion. The intersection of these different parts of Hannah’s life has resulted in a pool project aimed to improve local communities.
Broadly speaking, our world tends to see religion as a sort of ‘meaning-making’ device. In faith, one is able to carve divine order into the chaos and fragmentation of the human experience. This makes faith a vehicle for hope—for settling the existential realization that nothing in our lives makes sense. The premise of this project, however, challenges that assumption: What if grasping after order and unity is not a source, but an obstruction to our ability to embrace life?
CASEY PROCIW Class of 2024. Casey is a graduating senior with an English major and a Medieval/Early Modern Minor. He is a member of Sigma
Our climate policy framework is largely built on two significant bills: the 2019 Clean Energy Transition Act, which commits the state to greenhouse gas emission-free electricity generation, and the Climate Commitment Act, which implements a carbon tax and emissions trading scheme. While the CCA and CETA are essential steps, any policy framework inevitably leaves out certain local concerns. My research explores one way that these policies leave out the Spokane area, particularly in the context of our unique geologic history. The Spokane Valley–Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer is particularly vulnerable to contaminated runoff.
CASEY MODDRELL Class of 2024Majors: Chemistry and Political ScienceMinor: Law and JusticeFuture Plans: A year of service followed by completion of a JD/PhD in Chemistry.
KAE BENTON Class of 2024. Biochemistry Major. As a student who has spent many hours in biology and chemistry classes, I have fostered a deep
TRICIA CEBOTARI Class of 2024. Hello! I’m an undergraduate student at Whitworth University pursuing my B.A. in Computer Science International Project Management and Spanish Language/Literature,
CAITLIN TEETER Class of 2024. Biology and English Double-Major. Over the past few decades, studies from groups such as Scholastic have shown that children are
ELEANOR JEFFERS Class of 2024. Philosophy Major. Details Forthcoming. Care Ethics for the Recently Deceased My project will analyze how an ethic of care can
Ultimately, my project seeks to foster a more informed healthcare environment. One in which researchers, healthcare professionals, and patients are better equipped to navigate the unique complexities of women’s health.
MEGAN NECOCHEA Megan is an undergraduate student at Whitworth University pursuing her Bachelor’s in English. She is the editor-in-chief of Script Magazine and the nonfiction editor of Rock and
A good magazine thrives off of good writing, good design, good photos, and good direction. However, in addition to the talent required to pull off these difficult qualifiers, a good magazine requires consistent policy to ensure the quality and consistency of its work. Additionally, written policy is important for providing transparency, which is a vital element of journalistic writing.
Aging Americans and their caregivers should have easy access to dignifying end-of-life care. The rapid increase in the 65+ population requires policy innovation in current Medicare regulation concerning hospice. Coordinated, intentional efforts between government and private sector providers, insurance navigators, community organizations, and houses of worship are also needed to change public attitudes towards hospice care, encourage referrals, increase uptake, and offer emotional, psychological, and spiritual support.
As a Christian in the science field, these two dominant fields have always been a big part of my learning and worldview. During our time at Cambridge, we read a book by Yuval Harari titled Sapeins. In this book, Yuval Harari is attempting to tell the story of science throughout human history. I observed that in this attempt, Harari is guilty of placing science in a bubble, ignoring big changes going on in the world, specifically around the Scientific Revolution. This realization, paired with my strong passion and fascination for science and religion, led me to desire to be able to better prove that these two fields are not in conflict.
Families that have children who experience Down Syndrome are confronted with many demanding needs in order to help their child thrive in today’s society. Unfortunately, several limitations can interfere with getting help for these families who are in need of additional services including therapy for their children. This proposed project aims to decrease the disadvantages and clarify the resources and research available to them. It hopes to combat the limited access to physical therapy, by producing a social media page with extensive resources, up-to-date research, and exercise videos related to improving quality of life and development for children with Down Syndrome along with their families. What inspired my project was my interest in pediatric physical therapy as well as my close relationships with people who have Down Syndrome. I have had wonderful opportunities to volunteer at Down Syndrome Success Organizations and have learned about techniques that help further the development of children with Down Syndrome. I have seen firsthand how much joy they bring to the lives around them and how many stressors they (and their families) can encounter in everyday life. Even though I am not a licensed Physical Therapist yet, and thus can’t provide any actual therapy, I hope that my social media page will help clarify the research and resources available for families who need it.
This research project examines how institutions of higher education in the United States are responding to the rapid integration of artificial intelligence tools in academic environments, and where significant regulatory gaps remain. As generative AI systems become increasingly accessible to students and faculty, universities face growing challenges in maintaining academic integrity, supporting cognitive development, and addressing algorithmic bias.
KENDALL SANDHOP Class of 2024. Kendall is an undergraduate student studying Biology and Environmental Science at Whitworth university. Her graduating plan is to take a
Growing up, I attended a Japanese immersion school, so I have been learning the language since I was a child. However, upon graduation without any more opportunity for classroom education, I had to turn to self-education to further my learning. This is where I discovered there was a severe lack of convenient language acquisition assistance tools for the Japanese language, and the ones that did exist were all hosted in different locations. That is the motivation for this project, where I aimed to create an all-in-one location for Japanese language learning tools to assist those partaking in self-study.
My project, MisMatch, started from a real-life frustration — how much time and energy it takes just to pick an outfit. Research shows that people spend around 102 hours a year deciding what to wear (Marks & Spencer), and about 50% of Americans say it’s the most stressful part of getting ready for an event (Trunk Club). At the same time, the fast fashion industry produces around 92 million tons of textile waste each year (UNEP), most of which ends up in landfills. I wanted to create something that helped people in their everyday lives while also promoting more sustainable habits.
This project had two facets: one was working with the Books to Prisoners organization to put on a book drive. Through this drive we collected over 200 books which will be mailed to prisoners across the country as well as a grant for 500$ from the Sigma Tau Delta Honor society as a part of the Chapter service project to provide them with new shelving, postage, and specifically requested books. This meets a physical demand: access to the books prisoners want to read.
The other aspect of this project was volunteering in the Juvenile Detention Center in downtown Spokane where I was able to work with high school students in their English classes through creative writing workshops. I was able to connect with individual students who come from a variety of situations and use the tools I’ve learned about creative writing to help them to process and create though creative writing of their own.
My honors project addresses this gap by developing a sign language translator application, functioning similarly to Google Translate. The app features a keyboard that displays ASL signs as images, allowing users to either select signs directly to communicate in sign language or type words normally and have them translated into the corresponding signs. This application is built with one goal in mind: to ensure that every person, regardless of hearing ability, can communicate effectively and with dignity.
Over the past 10 years there has been a huge uptick in violence on college campuses in the United States, however, there has been no significant state or federal legislative efforts produced to work to protect students on campuses. In addition, Campus Security staff members nationwide have been overwhelmed and have been facing burnout due to lack of support from university administrators, leaving college campuses and their students vulnerable. Under the Cleary Act, nationwide, campuses have reported over 23,000 crimes on college campuses. This is a situation that has been pushed forward even more by the increase of political divisions on campuses and the prevalent nature of protests that turn unpeaceful and spark further violence. This project seeks to demonstrate the need for federal legislation that demands one professional campus security officer per two hundred students on any college campus that takes federal funding from the United States government. Currently, in the United States, there is no clear baseline/bench marker for how many campus security officers an institution needs to have. This lack of foresight leaves room for campus violence to surge. Through this project I will write a policy that institutes a required number of security officers on any campus that takes federal funding and identifies itself as a university.
Students with disabilities (SWD) make up 17-19% of the student population in higher education institutions. However, research focused on them accounts for only 1% of papers published in education journals. Furthermore, disabled students are less likely to enroll in science, technology, mathematics and engineering (STEM) courses compared to their abled peers. Researchers have posited that this may be due to both physical barriers, such as inaccessible laboratories, and cultural ones, like negative experiences with peers and faculty. So what can universities do to improve the landscape of their STEM cohorts to make them more equitable and inclusive for students with disabilities? Existing research has suggested a variety of solutions, ranging from implementing Universal Design Learning (UDL) to purchasing specialized lab equipment. But there does not yet exist a compilation of the current recommendations for interventions and best practice for improving equity and accessibility in STEM departments. In this project, I will examine the specific challenges faced by SWD in the classroom and laboratory, interventions to improve challenges faced, and practical suggestions institutions can utilize to effectively implement the interventions in their STEM programs.
AI is changing more quickly than ethical norms can keep up, especially in the profession of journalism (Simon, 2024). Although AI tools increase productivity, professional journalism’s survival and credibility are at risk due to their unchecked use. The human-centered principles that support press integrity are being undermined by automated news writing, copyright violations, and algorithmic disinformation (Simon, 2024). This project will compare human-reported stories to AI-generated failures, look at the ethical consequences of generative AI in journalism, and offer solutions for responsible innovation. Raising awareness of these dangers and promoting AI integration that complements human journalists rather than replaces them are the main goals. I decided to focus on this topic because I want to work in journalism, where these developments will have a direct impact on my future writing. As someone just starting out in the industry, I’m worried about how a reliance on AI might change my field of communications, possibly decreasing chances for original writing and eroding accountability standards. However, I am aware of the advantages these tools provide when used appropriately. In order to make sure that future industry professionals like myself can have credibility and ethical storytelling in an increasingly automated media landscape, this project reflects my interest in helping find a balance where innovation supports integrity.
