Students wowed the BW community, showcasing more than 150 projects and performances at the daylong celebration leading into spring finals week.
Baldwin Wallace University's 2025 Ovation put a spotlight on student research, creative projects, thought leadership and much more.
Classes were recessed on Thursday, May 1, for the annual event, and BW President-designate Lee Fisher helped open the day's festivities in the Knowlton Center saying, "Today, we give a standing ovation to BW students."
The posters, oral presentations and performances featured at Ovation covered a range of student accomplishments from the 2024-25 academic year, from research on concussion reporting among athletes to a comparative study of public library use.
Fisher said the breadth of hands-on work represented reminded him of a saying often attributed to Benjamin Franklin: "Tell me, and I will forget; teach me, and I may remember; involve me, and I learn."
New to Ovation this year: a unique PhotoVoice display featuring the reflections of first-year BW students through photography and personal narrative. The diverse tapestry of their year-one college experiences created a backdrop in the Center for Innovation and Growth space where musicians from the Conservatory of Performing Arts performed.
Seniors in engineering and environmental science presented year-long capstone projects to close out the day.
In between, BW dining services served up a free picnic lunch.
At the end of the day, Ovation recognizes and celebrates the faculty-mentored student work that represents diverse academic interests and pursuits in the BW community.
As part of Dr. Rachelle Hippler's "Systems Requirements & Testing course," Jenna Shepard '26 developed "EcoJourney," a mobile application concept designed to simplify and support more sustainable travel choices for users looking to minimize their environmental impact while traveling. The work on systems design and testing was initially presented at the Ohio Celebration of Women in Computing (OCWiC).
For "Seniors Gone Social: How 3 Gen Zs Launched a Group of Older Adults on Social Media," a trio of professor Tim Marshall's Digital Marketing Center student specialists, Mady Nathaniel '25, Alissa Hasrouni '25 and Nuh Agarwalla '26, recounted their foray into a social media platform shunned by their peers but vital for their older clients looking to promote the BW Institute for Learning in Retirement.
Design major Ursual Saadeh '25, supported by associate professor Erica Lull, found a mismatch between cover art and reader satisfaction in her examination of "The BookTok Effect: Designing Authentic Marketing and Covers to Align Content and Audience on Social Media," while psychology and criminal justice major Hailey Banville '25 did a deep dive into "The Dangers of Convicting Someone with Only DNA Evidence."
Check out more of the 150 projects and presentations in the gallery below.