Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: This was made by humans.
[00:00:05] Speaker B: Welcome to Austin Community Conversations, a podcast featuring discussions about the interests, backgrounds, and projects animating the members of a vibrant college community.
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker's own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of Austin Community College. The material and information presented here is for general information purposes only.
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[00:01:13] Speaker A: On April 25, 2026, Austin Community College hosted its annual student research Symposium event showcasing outstanding, original academic work by ACC students across all disciplines.
Eleven ACC students were also honored at the annual Curiositus academic Journal release ceremony, recognizing a carefully selected collection of noteworthy student submission in the liberal arts.
Attendees at these events were treated to a festival of ideas, innovations, and scholarship, highlighting that ACC students not only learn about academic traditions, but actively participate in and contribute to them.
For this episode, I was joined by Brenda Roy and Alex Watkins, who respectively serve as faculty leaders for the symposium in Curiositus programs. We were also honored to speak with Zoila Walston and Ashley Miramontes, two students who have been published in Curiositus.
[00:02:07] Speaker B: Dive in.
[00:02:10] Speaker A: Zo Walston, Alex Watkins, Ashley Miramontes, Brinda Roy. Welcome to the conversation.
So, usually when I welcome guests, it's not quite so large a group as we have today. So I might like to begin by just inviting you to say a little bit about your connection to ACC and maybe specifically your connection to student publication opportunities, since that's one of the main topics for today.
If you don't mind starting. Zoila.
[00:02:36] Speaker B: Not at all. I'm Zoila.
I just graduated this last semester with my AA in English.
[00:02:43] Speaker A: Congratulations.
[00:02:44] Speaker B: Thank you. It's fun. Fun ride.
In fact, this symposium and my admission into the Curiositas was one of, I would say, significant factor in me considering switching my major from general studies to English.
That was really exciting. I got asked by my professor to submit my paper, and I didn't really think much of it. I was sure, okay. And then I found out that I got in and I was like, oh, my gosh, this is crazy.
So it was a really great experience.
[00:03:14] Speaker A: Outstanding. I look forward to hearing more about it. Alex.
[00:03:17] Speaker C: I'm Alex Watkins. I'm a faculty member in the technical communications department at acc, and I am the editor in chief of Curiosities, which is our academic journal for the liberal arts. So I have the great pleasure of getting to read through the best submissions at ACC and narrow it down to the best of the best. The 10 to 15 of up to like 80 submissions that we get college wide. I get every year to help people choose which ones will be published. And Zoila's work is in that and Ashley's as well.
[00:03:52] Speaker A: Outstanding, Ashley.
[00:03:54] Speaker D: Hi. Ashley Miramontes here. I began at ACC as a dual credit student and quickly saw the benefits of getting involved and just shooting my shot with educational opportunities, whatever I could find.
And I got published by Curiosities.
Is that how you say it?
Last year. And it was really nice to get my voice out there and meet some of my fellow students who also had really interesting things to say.
[00:04:31] Speaker E: I'm Brinda Roy. I teach in the composition and literary studies department. And I am also program coordinator for our liberal education advancement and development Initiative here at acc.
And as part of my responsibilities for lead, I am actually heading up the symposium, the undergraduate research Symposium this year. It's going to be on April 25th.
And I am just filled with pleasure and joy at inviting our students to showcase their research work at any level, any kind of work that they are doing. We invite you to submit.
Thank you for having me.
[00:05:13] Speaker A: All right. Thanks, Brenda. So the audience will likely have surmised by now that the kind of connective tissue between the four of you is that you've all been involved in various ways in student publication opportunities, providing some venue for some of the best student work that's happening at ACC to have exposure to a wider audience.
So the two opportunities that have been identified so far are a symposium event. This would be modeled something on the idea of an academic conference where students would come and I have the opportunity to read papers, Field Q and A, if I'm not mistaken. Whereas the Curiositas journal highlights maybe kind of the other end of the traditional academic spectrum where there's published work in the written format that can be available to a wider audience. The Curiosidas journal accepts work from all disciplines. Is that correct?
[00:06:02] Speaker C: From everybody in the liberal arts.
[00:06:04] Speaker A: Everybody in the liberal arts. Okay.
[00:06:05] Speaker C: So we started in your division down in Yale, Liberal arts, humanities and communication. And recently we have expanded to include the whole of the liberal arts.
I think that the reality is that the work that we produce for the liberal arts looks a little bit differently than the stuff that is submitted for sciences. And so having a specific space that highlights the real value of the liberal arts education, I think is more important now than ever before.
[00:06:41] Speaker A: Agreed. Okay. So I might ask then, Zora, if you wouldn't mind telling me a little bit about the. The paper that you submitted?
[00:06:48] Speaker B: Yeah, we were just talking about this beforehand.
I was part of Shout out to Professor Becky Villarreal, her distance learning English 2 class. And in trying to figure out what to sign up for, a lot of the spaces were filling up. And she had sent an email out to all the students suggesting, hey, if you've never attended a Red Bench event, you should consider it and this would count towards your service learning. Here's a link. Click on it if you want to join. Sign up. When I read about it, I was, huh.
Because like a lot of people, I was raised in a conservative Christian home. I had a lot of, you know, that foundation set in me. And then I really wanted to be an artist. And so I did choose to forego getting a traditional education. And I basically gave 20 plus years of my life to just being, essentially, you would say, like an indie artist, you know. But a lot of it was in the context of church community, if you, you know, so lay evangelical church. And that led me to South Florida and I kind of was involved in a lot of stuff, a lot of really cool opportunities.
And to not digress, there was a lot of negatives and positives that came from that. And so the idea of attending a Red Bench event that was interfaith and that was facilitated in a way where it wasn't disingenuous and it wasn't platitudes of like, sure, we respect all faiths, but not really.
But really, they really did.
And the manner in which the thing are laid out and the way that they approached talking about really sensitive topics. In this case, it was about banned books.
I was just, I mean, I still, when I talk about it was sincerely, like blown away in the sense of like, I can't believe this is happening. I can't believe that I have a Jewish person, a Mormon person, a Methodist person, a Catholic person sitting at my table.
And I'm listening to all of their perspectives on this topic.
Nobody is being cut off. Nobody's being snarky, nobody's being sarcastic. We are actually positioned and postured in a way where we're hearing each other, really hearing. And it really moved me because it really showed me the power of communication when it's done well, when it's done, when it's done with care, it just brings everyone's defenses down. And so it was honestly not hard for me to write that paper. It was just like, write about your experience, really. Okay. And then, I mean, I remember sitting in my Living room with my laptop and getting to a point in my paper where I did start crying because I was remembering the moment. And, yeah, it was just like a beautiful moment of imagination, which I think is a powerful tool that gets lost as adults of what could be, if we really were willing, in this case, what would happen if we were really willing to listen to each other and realize that we're not enemies and realize that the things that we make, the things that we exalt in life and in this world, that. That create divisions and borders between us. When you really peel those things back, they're really not that different. They really aren't. And how much better life would be. Yeah, seriously, you know, so, yeah, I could talk on and on about it, but it's just one of those things that really grips me, so. Sure.
[00:10:15] Speaker A: Well, I think a lot of scholars, students, find that if you find a topic that captures your attention in that way, that actually evokes kind of an emotional response, but one that you can grapple with and craft into something that other people can share, that that makes for the best work a lot of the time.
[00:10:32] Speaker B: And the research element, too, is, I think when you find a topic like that, the research is, like, invigorating, because suddenly you're doing something that would have ordinarily been, maybe something that you would be pulling teeth to do. Now it's like you're diving in, and it's great.
[00:10:51] Speaker A: Okay, outstanding. Ashley, how about your paper?
[00:10:54] Speaker D: Oh, so my paper was about me coming back to school and all of the fears that I had growing up. Growing up, it wasn't really an expectation for girls to take school seriously and plan on going to college and. And really working outside the home.
The ideal was you're a wife and a mother, and that's what you aspire to. Right.
And growing up, I saw this as a very benevolent thing, Right? Like, yeah, motherhood and tradition and all of those things, and I really valued them.
But as I started growing up, I kind of wanted to find some direction.
And I wasn't so sure that the way that I was raised to see my role in life was completely benevolent, or at least how it manifests in real life. Right.
So I kind of went on a journey of reading a lot and, you know, trying to ask around, ask other women in my family, because that's who I was connected to. Right. Just ask other women in my family, like, what would you do if you were in my shoes? Tell me your story. Like, what? You know, when. What did you want to do when you were younger. And what did you learn, you know, like becoming a mom and choosing your life path, right? And they all came to, you know, this sense of like, we love our lives, but we also know that there are things that we wish we had the opportunity to do for ourselves and we want you to take advantage of the opportunities that you actually have in front of you.
And I guess it got me to this place of like, you know, I have like this thing in the essay that's like I sat with, you know, something fussy, like I sat with the fears of the generations before me or whatever, something like that.
I made it flowery, you know, But I sat with this weight, right? And I wanted to write about it when I got the chance to at acc, because, you know, I wanted to get a sense of, is this the right path? Where am I going? You know? And it was lovely to have that hope, you know, in a way validated by other people who read it. And they were like, wow, absolutely, this kind of thing needs to be told.
[00:13:40] Speaker A: Two things strike me as really fascinating that seem to be in common in your two stories.
One is that you are engaging in writing about topics that are almost certainly going to be shared experiences that many of our students have.
But the other is that you were drawing on your own experience, or Ashley, in your case, the experiences of your family as sources of research. Very often I think the idea of research, academic research, connotes going to the library and reading through a bunch of other peer reviewed journals, just, no knock on that. But having an opportunity to actually bring the experiences you are having and telling your family stories or your own story as contributing to scholarly research sounds like a pretty powerful experience.
[00:14:29] Speaker D: And honestly, it was.
It was reading about women as well. You know, while I was kind of. I had all this information from my family members, but having a book written by a woman who, you know, pursued education despite the pressures or the expectations of her culture, it distilled this experience into something universal, right? Like, oh, there's other people, you know, who see the world the same, you know, or experienced, you know, something that made them wonder, right? And it was reading about Zora Neale Hurston, right? The first African American woman to make a living out of her writing, right? And seeing her trajectory. I was honestly reading about her and Malala. And finally the one that really kind of stuck with me was Educated by Tara Westover.
There was something about it, you know, like I could see myself in her. And yet everything that she talked about was so unique that you're like, how could I Relate to this person who lives so differently, you know? But the underlying, you know, fracture of, you know, her, the way she was raised, you know, and who she actually wanted to become, you know, that was such a beautiful tension to see. You know, I saw it in my.
And the way my dias and my grandmothers and my mother talked, you know, so. Yeah.
[00:16:01] Speaker A: Yeah. So I might ask, how does the prospect of other people who now have an opportunity to read your work having an experience like the one you just shared but triggered by your writing strike you?
[00:16:15] Speaker B: Incredible.
[00:16:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:17] Speaker B: I mean, it's incredible. And it's like hearing her talk about how that set a spark in you. Like, she sat down and read Zora Neale Hurst Hurston and these other people. It's like, if it wasn't for their writings. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, that is the spark that keeps on going. And it's like, now she has an opportunity, and I had an opportunity. Who knows if somebody reads my stuff or if they pick up.
How do you pronounce that?
[00:16:44] Speaker C: Curiosity.
[00:16:45] Speaker B: I thought it was pronounced like, Spanish.
[00:16:47] Speaker D: Like, that's how I've been saying it.
[00:16:50] Speaker C: I love that,
[00:16:54] Speaker B: reading that and seeing themselves and what they're reading of, like, hey, this is one of my peers.
Not only are they benefiting from the universal experience of, you know, I relate to this so much, but it could also be the spark for them as well. So it's really cool how it just keeps on giving.
And, I mean, I also love the picture of, like, women's empowerment, you know, that that's something powerful and how it starts with education. Yes.
[00:17:20] Speaker D: You know, I think I grew up in this. This polarized world. Right. And everyone's got screaming off the rooftops. Right. At least it seems so when you're, like, surrounded by screens all day. Right.
But I. I came to this realization, like, through, you know, reading about these women. I was like, okay. I think the most revolutionary thing I can do is, you know, it's not the cartoonish, you know, like burning your bra and shaving your head.
Actually, the most revolutionary thing you can do, as, you know, a Latina woman, is to get your education, focus on that. Focus on you.
It's a powerful thing, and it will reverberate through generations.
[00:18:03] Speaker A: It does.
[00:18:04] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:18:07] Speaker A: So I wonder, Brenda, when you bring the various papers and disciplines and interests of students together at the symposium, what we're seeing here is two students who knew nothing of each other's work while they were writing it. But as the discussion of the work comes together, Kind of common themes begin to emerge. Do you ever observe that sort of thing happening at the symposia?
[00:18:32] Speaker E: Yeah, so definitely, because we have a range of disciplines, we are interested in seeing how submissions are talking to each other because ultimately that is what scholarship, like scholarly research.
It's basically adding. Participating in ongoing conversations, meaningful conversations about a specific topic or a specific, you know, disciplinary issue.
So we definitely, we do want to put panels together where presenters are in dialogue with each other. And the symposium in the past, which was part of the Liberal Arts Gateway program, we've had two student sympos, three student symposiums in the past. And that is how we have arranged our panels, is where we have presenters talking to each other through the. Through their work and bringing different perspectives. So it's part of an ongoing discussion, but it's all about, you know, these different perspectives and how. Where do we sit on this issue and how that looks maybe different from a historian's perspective versus from an English disciplinary perspective, if that makes sense.
So the answer to that is yes, that is definitely going to be something that we are going to be doing, is having presenters dialoguing with each other.
[00:19:57] Speaker A: Outstanding.
I wonder when. Well, I guess first, how were each of you solicited for this? How did you find out about the opportunity to submit?
[00:20:09] Speaker B: Professor Becky, Professor Viviel again? She actually reached out to me because the service learning presentations had already gone on, and I actually read mine during the presentation online.
It was supposed to be in person and it became virtual. And then the class came and went, and I believe it was like in between semesters or I don't recall. But she essentially reached out to me and said, listen, there's a publication in the liberal arts, it's called Creositas. You should consider turning in your paper. And I was like, really? Think it's that good?
Okay, do it. And I'm like, you got it. I'm on it. So I sent it in. That was literally how just her recommendation to do it.
[00:20:49] Speaker A: Ashley, how did you find out about the opportunity?
[00:20:51] Speaker D: Also through my professor, Professor Shelton.
I think she was actually trying to make me feel better about the fact that I wanted to rewrite an essay.
It was one of our last essays at the time. I was very one track mind.
And even though I got a good grade in it, for some reason in my head, I was like, okay, but we can do more, you know, and we can make it even better. And so I told Professor Shelton, who gave me this space, God bless her, she was just like, okay, let's do it. I mean, all right.
And, you know, then I sent it to her. She was like, hey, this was. This.
It's great. Like, you don't need to tweak it anymore. It's like, I'm just going to give you is. You're. You know, you gotta accept what you got. And I was like, okay, that's fair. She's like, but you know what you could do? You could submit to Curiositas. It's like, maybe that way you can get it out there, you know, in the best form that you think it should be in.
So I ended up submitting that, and then I got this itch to submit the first one that I wrote. I was like, oh, apparently they might also be interested in something more like, you know, creative or something. You know, it goes off the research beaten path. And, you know, and so I submitted that one, and I was really surprised to hear that, you know, that I was chosen.
Chaltane and I were just like, yeah, it's very exciting.
[00:22:24] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:22:24] Speaker D: It's really exciting.
[00:22:26] Speaker C: Absolutely. And then seeing them interact together at our curiosities banquet launch party was really beautiful. Ashley spoke about being seen by a professor in that way. And that's what I love about the journal, is that it allows people to be seen. It allows faculty who are encouraging their students to be seen to be seen. Right. So it's a wonderful moment of recognition of that sort of burning desire to write a better paper, even if you already got an A. Right. Like that. It is beyond that. Right. It's about sharing your experience and leaving something behind. Yeah.
Which is amazing.
[00:23:10] Speaker A: Yeah. Now, I don't mean to be fishing for a cliche here, but I wonder, I mean, as you had that experience of being seen, did you find that it changed the way you see yourselves at all?
[00:23:23] Speaker B: That's a great question.
Yeah, you go ahead.
[00:23:27] Speaker D: I think it magnified everything. Like, it just amplified everything for me.
It magnified some of the. Of the fears that I had as well. Of, like, ooh, you know, like, people are look. You know, and, you know, like, so I magnified some of that. I was suddenly very, like, self conscious. I was like, oh, God, what. What if I sound so, like, sappy or something? You know?
But it also gave me this crazy hope where, like, even when the doubts would come, I'd kind of giggle, you know, so I'd be like, okay, maybe, you know, so I'm really glad I did it. It definitely changed the way that I saw myself. I felt like, oh, okay. Like, I can just connect with People and find out that I have a lot more in common with them than I thought I was. This is. That's what I've learned.
[00:24:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:25] Speaker D: From this experience, at least.
[00:24:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:26] Speaker A: That's great. That's fantastic.
[00:24:28] Speaker B: Yeah. I would say it's kind of been a swirl of everything. It's, like, very unexpected when you get your. When something like that gets highlighted and your professors are just like, this is great. You should submit it, and then it gets selected.
For me, it was very surreal. Like, really, I didn't think it was that great. That was my initial reaction. I didn't think it was that great. But then it was, like, on a personal level, it was just like this voice of just, like, you keep putting yourself down and people around you are continuing to encourage you and pushing you forward.
Maybe you should start listening to that voice instead of. And that really ties into just that perfectionism and anxiety that I dealt with a lot.
It's funny how I came to a point in my singing where I was very comfortable getting on the stage and singing in front of people, but speaking was another form of vulnerability. You can speak with the power of words and a paper, and you can speak vocally, orally, in front of a crowd, and it was a whole other, like, medium for me. That was just, like, you know, very. It just felt very vulnerable.
And so, yeah, that was, for me, I think, the beginning of the rest of my time at acc, where it's been a journey of discovery. Like, I don't know where this is all leading to, but I'm just trying to follow this thing that's leading me forward and this kind of sense of, like, believing yourself, you know? Like, I know with the honors program and with curiositas, you know, being curious and celebrating curiosity and just allowing that little how come or why or what does this mean? You know, and just following that thread, it's very much me, like, I'm like that, you know, like, why? Why? Who made this rule?
[00:26:16] Speaker D: Why?
[00:26:17] Speaker B: You know? And so it's kind of, I guess, validated that part of myself that I think, not realizing it, but I think for years, being in an environment that was, again, giving platitudes to women but in its own way, kind of hampering women at the same time. Like, you're good here.
My voice has slowly become a little bit more stronger and slowly become a little bit more vocal in that confidence element of just, like, be you sure.
[00:26:46] Speaker E: Can. Can I just quickly say so? I am loving this discussion so much.
So going back, this is my pitch for the symposium again. But there seems to be in higher ed a lot of gatekeeping that goes on with research, the kinds of research and who has access to research and who can do legitimate research and be producers of knowledge. And I feel like what we are doing at ACC is so incredible with the academic journal and with the symposium is precisely because we are amplifying voices that have traditionally been gate kept out, if that makes sense. Right.
And having our students. I love how powerful these journeys have been for you. Right. And how meaningful and transformative they've been for you. And I feel like that is where we come in, Alex and I, and all these. All the committed faculty and staff that are involved in these projects is amplifying those voices and giving you guys, like, this tremendous confidence boost where.
[00:27:54] Speaker B: Heck, yeah.
[00:27:55] Speaker E: I'm an intellectual. I do really important intellectual work.
Well, it's for a grade in the classroom, but outside of that, it's recognizing that and then having that be recognized by the people that come for your talk, that read your paper in the journal.
[00:28:13] Speaker A: Right.
[00:28:13] Speaker E: And I think that is so empowering to have community college students do this kind of work and be proud of it and have it be recognized as, yes, it is legitimate, intellectual, deep scholarship.
Just a shout out for that.
[00:28:32] Speaker D: The first thing that my business professor said, I took this BCIS course. It's like business Computer Information Systems.
I had this teacher who's very. No nonsense, you know, very like, do this, do this, do this, don't do that. And I hope I don't have to say it again, you know?
You know, she was very straightforward. And as Ms. Carson, she was amazing. And the first thing she did when I, like, showed her these, like, stickers that I made by myself, I was like, oh, look, I made, like, this binder. I know I just met you, but can I talk about the stickers on my binder? And she was like, like, wow. It's like, you should sell these. You should.
[00:29:18] Speaker B: You should.
[00:29:19] Speaker D: Yeah. She's so business oriented. She was like, you should actually. Yeah. Like, because I also made like a syllabus or something. She was like, you should tell every single person in this room that you're selling them. Like, And I was like, you know, I kind of want to think like you. I like that.
But the first thing that she did when she read my paper was she cried. And very silently, like, very. She still had, like, her posture perfect. She was reading it, just crying. She wiped her tears off. Right. You know, and she looked at me and she was like, put this on your resume and Then that was it.
So, yeah, I think it's amazing to see that, you know, there's, I feel like these kinds of opportunities also give a chance for, you know, educators to connect, you know, to their students. And, you know, I think that's been amazing. You know, that's what made me want to keep going, is that even when I struggled, when I wasn't the perfect student, having a professor who is going to help you through it, they're there for that and they're getting you to really just hone everything.
It's a crucial kind of dynamic, if
[00:30:31] Speaker A: I might humbly suggest. I think actually the work that you're doing turns out to be a profound gift for your faculty. In an additional way, it gives us an opportunity to, to reconnect with our own disciplines.
So I don't know how often most people go and attend academic colloquia as a recreational activity or read peer reviewed scholarship, but it usually doesn't evoke tears.
It usually doesn't yield powerful emotional experiences in the way that I've routinely seen at the symposium. And when people respond to curiosity dust. I don't want to throw my own discipline under the bus bus, but I find myself enjoying the research that the students publish in our journals far more than I do the Journal of Philosophy. No knock to the people publishing there, but I love being able to come to a space where I don't necessarily have disciplinary expertise in what I'm about to hear about, but it's engaging, it is pitched at a level that anybody can connect to, and it tends to really ground itself in experiences that people in the room are likely to themselves have had.
And so you probably are doing a lot more for your professors than you realize and reminding them why they got involved in this stuff in the first place.
[00:31:53] Speaker D: Yeah. Something Sheltain said that felt really nice.
She said that this reminded her why she became a teacher in the first place.
And it was, it was lovely to hear because I've, I, I always try and credit, you know, that wherever I get, it's because a teacher was there. You know, like wherever. It's because someone put something in my head, you know, they, they said something and I was like, you know what? Maybe, yeah, okay, you know, and it, it plants a seed right in your head and, you know, makes, makes you realize that you, you can get into spaces and try something new.
[00:32:33] Speaker A: So, yeah, there's something else that maybe I would like to emphasize just for potential listeners here. Both of you have shared that it was direct interaction with your faculty that led you to submit. So I know that both of the programs, Curiosities and the student Symposium, engage in promotion. In fact, this conversation is going to be part of a promotional effort to bring people to it. But so often it is that direct invitation from a faculty member that is the thing that gets us over the threshold to actually put ourselves out there a little bit.
[00:33:06] Speaker E: And it's at least with my students, they are surprised, shocked, and amazed that we have this. And they ask me, Alex, they asked me about the journal.
Is it here at acc? It's housed here. It's an ACC publication. I'm like, yeah, it is.
So it's the light that just.
[00:33:29] Speaker D: It.
[00:33:30] Speaker E: The spark that it lights in them as we are seeing here, is amazing. Pretty cool.
[00:33:36] Speaker A: Yeah. Now, if I'm not mistaken, we have the Curiositas release party upcoming in.
Is it going to be late March, early April?
[00:33:45] Speaker C: It'll be in April, alongside the series Student Research.
[00:33:48] Speaker A: This year, we're going to be collaborating in this way. Yeah.
[00:33:51] Speaker C: So we will be able to host folks like Zoila and Ashley, who we consider official Friends of Curiosities, who are reading for us this time to help us select who will be published.
We'll share the work, which has been so difficult to choose this year because we have another great year filled with submission.
And right outside, there will be folks presenting their posters and having these conversations. So we want to really integrate these opportunities as the things that we are doing in our area to celebrate the fact that students care beyond the grade that they get, the fact that faculty care beyond the things that they need to grade.
We took on a new reader this year, Jean Lauer, who's the department chair and. And Philosophy, Religion and Humanities. And she was asking a bunch of questions because she also reads for an undergraduate journal that's more academic in focus. And I told her, really, the only criteria is that the world needs to be better because this thing exists. And I believe the world is better because of your paper. Because of your paper, and because we have this opportunity to share the best of the best. The things that we as faculty see about what makes ACC amazing. And we get to share the Chancellor read for us this year.
All the way across the college, people are talking about the work that you have done because it is that important.
[00:35:23] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:35:23] Speaker A: That's beautiful, Brenda. If I were to just attend the symposium this year, what might I expect to see? What's the format going to look like?
[00:35:33] Speaker E: Okay, so we are still working on that aspect of things.
Our application deadline is March 23, so we will know better about the program and the schedule once we have all the submissions in and we've made the selections. But the basic format is going to be. So we will. Hopefully we will have enough submissions where we can do concurrent panels, concurrent sessions running in multiple rooms. We will be based in the Highland campus in the presentation hall. And then we are doing a little takeover of the surrounding area as well. And we have also reserved some of the classrooms.
In addition to that, we have our journal launch party. We will have poster presentations, and that's going to be all around in that common area.
We will also have. We are also accepting multimedia presentations. So if that is something that you are interested in doing. Doing. We haven't quite figured out what goes where, but I think that's going to come after we get a better sense of, you know, all the submissions we have and where we can put them. And remember we were talking earlier about thematic overlaps.
So that is also something that we are going to be thinking about as we place presentations together where we house them. All of that good stuff.
[00:36:54] Speaker A: Very good. And, Alex, if someone were interested in actually seeing the Curiositus journal, what would be the easiest way for them to do that?
[00:37:01] Speaker C: They can go online to our website. If you search Curiosities acc, you'll be able to find the journal formatted and available.
But really, the best way, I would say, is to stop by the student research symposium and you'll be able to have first looks at what the printed edition has. You'll be able to speak to some folks who have been published. Published.
And the benefit of seeing the great research work that's happening at acc.
[00:37:28] Speaker A: Yeah, I might just say the actual printed volume itself is always rather beautiful. So it's definitely something to do.
[00:37:35] Speaker C: You know, we put the little clicky sound between it.
[00:37:40] Speaker A: Yeah, no, that's great.
So, Ashley, I might ask, so what's next for you in terms of your scholarship, your life as an intellectual?
[00:37:47] Speaker D: Oh, okay. So. Well, it's all up in the air right now.
I was working as a paraeducator, which is just a fancy way of saying teacher's aid, but I'm gonna take it.
So it's been a really nice kind of experience to get to see what it's like on the other side, instructing students and helping them through their coursework.
It's been a wonderful learning experience in that way.
But I did have to. Unfortunately, I'm on medical leave right now.
I've just had to slow down because I've been dealing with chronic pain and things like that.
It's definitely slower than it used to be. I've limited myself to two classes per se semester until I recover so that I can, you know, still, you know, have my one. One foot in the. In the pond, you know.
[00:38:49] Speaker A: That's admirable.
[00:38:50] Speaker D: Yeah, thank you. I've. I'm trying to see if I can hopefully just focus on, you know, think what, whatever. I can manage that. I am still getting out there. I'm still talking to people. I'm still a part of my community in one way or another, you know, so. So that's why I wanted to come here.
[00:39:10] Speaker A: That's great. Love to hear it.
[00:39:12] Speaker B: Good for you. I hope you get better soon.
[00:39:14] Speaker D: Thank you.
[00:39:16] Speaker B: Well, I was able to graduate, like I said.
I deferred my semester, so I'll be starting in the fall and the hope is to get my bachelor's in communication studies, probably with a minor in psychology, I think.
Yeah, we'll see what happens. I'm excited about the potentiality that's there.
I have so many avenues that I feel like I could see myself doing. So my intention is always just to keep my eyes and my ears open and my heart open for the opportunities that come my way so that I could see where I'm best fitted. I'm in a slightly different situation just being a non traditional student and having teenagers. It's always that tightrope of like doing something that will set me forward on a path and also being proud of myself and also being available to my kids. And that's always tough. But.
But yeah. So we'll see what happens.
[00:40:15] Speaker A: Yeah, that's. That's very exciting. I. I wonder if the experience that you had at the Red Bench event or the experience of writing about it, do you see that informing your future scholarship or intellectual work?
[00:40:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, this is part of the. Everyone essentially. First of all, let me just stop right there. I. I am an anxious person.
I have been. And I'm a recovering perfectionist. And so rumination is something that I deal with all the time, familiar to many of us.
[00:40:47] Speaker C: You're not.
[00:40:47] Speaker E: Right.
[00:40:48] Speaker B: It's just like.
It's just the spiral of just constant thinking.
[00:40:51] Speaker D: That's every writer I've met.
[00:40:53] Speaker B: Yeah. And it's kind of like, I don't know, I really intend to try to be a healthy, well rounded person. And especially with my daughter has a tendency to be this way as well. I'm always trying to coach her through, but anything. It's weird. It's like my second to last semester was My first foray into public speaking, that was terrifying, but also extremely rich and rewarding. People have told me, hey, you should consider this. When I was at the Red Bench, I told Brenda that I spoke with a gentleman from one of the communities that were involved in the Red Bench event. And he was like, you should consider what was it, seminary or theology or something. And I was just like, oh boy.
But yeah, so I think that's why I have defaulted to psychology. Because if I may, the Ashley talking about just being a woman, how she was raised, the messages, if you look at the research around the world, world, the attack on intellectualism, the attack on higher education, you know, the whole question is, why would we do that? Why don't you want the other half of the electorate and the other half of the population to be educated? Like, what could that possibly mean, you know, but even just what you're talking about, even with regards to research, it's like, I think more and more, if you follow academics on social media, there is a slow but steady acknowledgment that as great as peer reviewed papers are, it's only for one audience, which is other scholars unfortunately getting from that point to the rest of the general public, it's getting lost. Then there's an opportunity there for scholars and for people like myself that are trying to figure out where we fit. For me with communication studies, I really, really do have a passion for clear communication. It's like, you can be smarter than anybody else in the world, but can you distill that information and then disseminate it in a way that is not just accessible but easy and clear to understand?
Because the fact that it is confusing doesn't make it, you know what I mean? It doesn't make it better.
And so I think there's an opportunity there. And again, going back to the current state of, of where we find ourselves, I think that the liberal arts and humanities more than ever are needed. You know, the power of books, if it wasn't for me going to acc, my love for reading probably wouldn't have rebounded the way that it had so many of us, you know, tune out. And you know, we're allowed to relax however we want, but so many of us kind of default to the television. And I have found like serious joy and, and that spark of imagination kind of being reinvigorated just with reading, just with reading fiction and different kinds of fiction. It's like a lost, truly a lost art. And so whether you put your hand to writing, it really makes you appreciate good writing. Because it's not easy to write, nor is it easy to speak. And so, yeah, the long answer to that question is, I see myself somewhere in all of that. I.
It's just kind of been a lifelong journey of not really knowing the where.
[00:44:15] Speaker A: Well, I certainly encourage folks to explore that space because there's all sorts of surprising things that can be found there.
I wholeheartedly agree that academia is in a moment where there's at least an opportunity to engage with the community at large in a way that maybe it hasn't over the past 50 years or so. But it's surprising to me to see that a place like Austin Community College could actually be the model that the rest of academia might look to, to see how it's done.
[00:44:48] Speaker B: Come on. I hope it happens. I always say I feel like ACC is like, the true gem of the city. It's like this quiet gem that's just kind of been slowly, like, shining a little bit and then more and then more and then more. And I'm just like. Like, everyone, are y' all sleeping on acc? Like, because you. What you guys are doing From a faculty perspective, from a curriculum perspective, the. I have not had one.
99% of all of my instructors have gone above and beyond. They want to see the students succeed. And these kinds of, you know, events, like creating a symposium, creating a. You know, I mean, it's just incredible.
[00:45:27] Speaker E: Incredible.
[00:45:27] Speaker D: And it creates an upward spiral. You know, I. I talk a lot about how Curiositas, like, inspired me. Right. But the effects of it were not just emotional. Like, I.
I submitted the same story, you know, talking about this and. And how I got published at Curiositas on a scholarship application, and I won. It was the. The Pizza Hut foundation, you know, $4,000.
[00:45:55] Speaker A: Congratulations.
[00:45:55] Speaker D: It was really cool, you know, and I. That wouldn't have happened if. If I hadn't gotten that positive reinforcement and the feedback from educators, from, you know, other people reading the story.
And now I'm in a mentorship with a marketing department that works with. Or like, a marketing company that works with Pizza Hut. So that's been, you know, really cool avenue. Like, every branch, you know, has another branch, and.
[00:46:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:46:24] Speaker D: And I think these kinds of opportunities for students are really important because they just broaden. Broaden your horizons.
[00:46:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
You know, I wonder, in terms of creating upward spirals, were you. Did you have an opportunity to share what you wrote with family, friends and see what their reactions to this were?
[00:46:44] Speaker B: Word. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. My. I always credit my sister.
[00:46:47] Speaker D: My.
[00:46:47] Speaker B: I have an older sister. Only four years older, but she was always the. The academic one. And I was always like, I'm not going to college. I'm a musician. Too cool for school.
And she was always like, I can't wait. I want to do this and I want to do that.
And so being able to share the paper with her and see, wow, you did a really good job. My husband is a. He's like, you're officially actually a published. What is it? Published writer.
[00:47:12] Speaker A: You are indeed.
[00:47:14] Speaker B: So, yeah, I would. Ashley was sharing earlier, like, getting that encouragement from your family is always positive. My friends are.
Yeah, it's been great. It's been great.
[00:47:25] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:47:25] Speaker D: Yeah. I. I shared it with my mother and my sisters and a few other people in my. In my family that are more my age. But I found that I had to be a bit protective of this within my family. I knew I could not show it to my dad. I know. I knew I could not show it to maybe older people in my generation. They don't see eye to eye with the way that I'm going forward.
And the whole story, really, in that paper is about coming to a place of acceptance, you know, that I. I came to my father, right, And. And seeking, you know, just someone to tell me, like, hey, this stuff is possible, and just keep going, you know? But if it reminded me that you're gonna have people in your life who see. See things very differently, that doesn't mean that they don't love you. That doesn't mean that they're not going to be there for you or root for you, but they. They're not going to see it through the same lens that you do, you know, and that's okay. I. I kissed my father on the forehead, and I. And I said, okay, you know, okay, papa. That's going to be the way you see things. And you're going to be so proud of me anyway, you know, I know you. You're going to be so proud of me anyway. You're going to be saying, it's as mija, you know, from. Yeah. That. That's the way he is, you know,
[00:48:51] Speaker B: So I resonate with that.
[00:48:52] Speaker D: I didn't.
[00:48:52] Speaker B: I didn't say. Say anything. But that for me, that was my mom. Because it's interesting. Growing up, my mother would say things like, don't get married, go to college, get a degree. Make something up. You know, she would always, like, go
[00:49:04] Speaker A: on those rants in that voice.
[00:49:06] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
She'll never hear this, so.
[00:49:09] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:49:11] Speaker B: But she has changed. You know, we all change. And it's interesting from a contemplative perspective to just be like, are we all. All going to end up, you know, I suppose if that curiosity does dwindle in you and that spark of imagining, my mother has gone from being very, you know, go do it to like, why would you want, you know, doesn't see the value. And so to, and especially from a religious perspective, having become more and more conservative, to read a paper where I am, you know, essentially promoting interfaith perspective and inclusivity and the wearing down of defenses and the getting rid of the us versus them mentality, that's not something that she has not. That's not something that she's willing to, I don't think, or probably will in the near future be able to really embrace in the world of theology and in the circles of church communities depending on. They're all very wide and different, but there is a wide swath off of people that just compromising is bad. You know, that's akin to compromising your faith. So that's just not something that she's going to do or receive.
[00:50:24] Speaker D: Yeah, you have to meet people where they're at. You know, there's. There's a lot more to be gained by talking to the people who really need to hear what you have to say rather than the people who, you know, they're not going to be directly impacted by this. You know, I learned that, okay, my power in this or my role in this is not going to be, you know, preaching to every man in my family or, you know, every older person about, you know, why they should do things differently. It's going to be okay when those things that they are refusing to do things differently lead to negative outcomes or they, you know, they hurt a person that I love. You know, if I hear my family kind of, you know, going after a young girl in my family, which is kind of, you know, common par for the course.
I'm going to go to that girl and make sure that she knows, hey, like, I know our family is this way, but you're not alone. Like, I'm standing shoulder to shoulder with you. That's going to be more impactful than pretty reaching out people who are not going to change. And it's not your job to change them. It's not your job to teach them. You can just lead by example and hope it catches. And the powerful thing about leading by example is that most of the time it catches.
[00:51:47] Speaker A: I rather suspect that the impact you're describing often can be an example for people who haven't even encountered your work yet. Right. The fact that you have a documented proof of your willingness to engage in what is frankly, brave and sometimes scary intellectual work is something that maybe even if your father isn't able to see through, maybe his nietos will. Right. In a way.
[00:52:15] Speaker D: Exactly.
[00:52:17] Speaker A: That can really change the trajectories of whole communities.
[00:52:22] Speaker E: I just want to quickly say how scholarship can be vulnerable. Like, this conversation proves that.
So that, you know, coming out of that position of vulnerability and claiming it as strength or reclaiming it as strength. Right. Yeah.
[00:52:37] Speaker D: Especially when. When we're. We're artists. You know, I think there's something to be said about the sensitive artist trope, you know, like, you know, not the tortured artist trope.
[00:52:50] Speaker A: Yeah, we try and avoid that.
[00:52:50] Speaker D: Yeah, we try and avoid that.
[00:52:52] Speaker E: Also, the poor artists living in the.
Living in a garage,
[00:52:58] Speaker D: starving.
You know, we have that.
[00:53:00] Speaker E: The Virginia Woolf.
[00:53:02] Speaker D: Virginia Woolf. But for sure, like, there's something to be said about, like, artists tend to be sensitive. We tend to be introspective, and that's, you know, where we draw from.
And that can be a very. It can be destructive, which is where those tropes come in. Right. But it can also be very constructive and help you understand yourself and value that introspective side of people.
[00:53:26] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, I just want to offer my sincere thanks to each of you for your willingness to contribute to this and Alex and Brenda, for your work in creating an opportunity to celebrate it. Right. Place people to come together and just acknowledge mutually that it was vulnerable, but it was worthwhile. And it really does reflect, I think, the best of what ACC has to offer.
[00:53:47] Speaker E: And thank you, Tonio, but I also do want to just end with a plug for the symposium, please. Everyone is welcome. Zoella, I heard. I think you have teenagers.
Yes. Bring them. Bring your husband, bring your mom, your dad.
Please, everyone. This is open to the public, to our stressing, emphasizing the community in community college.
This is open to all members of our community. It's not a symposium. Well, it is a symposium, but let's call it a carnival as well. Okay, Bring it on.
[00:54:21] Speaker A: Yes.
Yeah. Very good. And Alex, any last plugs you'd like to make for curiosita submissions or anything this year?
[00:54:29] Speaker C: Yeah, I think we have rolling submissions. So although we are reading currently for who we're going to put in the April 26th edition, we are looking for folks for April 27th.
So if you are a faculty member and you read something great. You heard today about the power of asking your students to submit. That could be to Curiosities. It could be to the student research symposium.
And yeah, just continuing to celebrate the great work of our students and faculty here at acc.
[00:54:57] Speaker A: Thanks. And I might just maybe leave with a plug for folks to just go and check the thing out. I think that if folks go and look at the Curiosities Journal, they may find that what they they read there is probably going to be something that they enjoy more than anything else they read today. So, yeah, thank you, all of you, for, for the conversation. I really enjoyed it.
[00:55:14] Speaker D: Well, thank you for having us. All right, take care, folks.
