COPE Club Winter Term student showcase

McKayla Schneider | The Broadside (Contact: mschneider@cocc.edu)

Vice president Sean Schultz (left) and president Julie Corrales (right) of the COPE club. The student showcase on March 15 is the last event for Winter term, but the club has meetings every other week.

Student Tricha Reese explains her project to reporter McKayla Schneider. This is the second time Reese has been in the end of the term showcase. The project focused on what factors affect treatment process, the outcome success in treatment, the success rate if someone is pressured to get treated, and problems within the treatment part of the process.

Psychology students’ projects lined the upstairs hall of Ochoco in an atmosphere described as a “relaxed” by Julie Corrales, the event coordinator for the Central Oregon Psychology Enthusiasts Club (COPE Club) at Central Oregon Community College.

To give psychology students an opportunity to showcase projects they have made throughout winter term, the COPE Club, the Heroic Imagination Project (HIP), and Psychology Professor Matt Novak hosted the event.

First time student participant, Aerial Hutchison, displayed a project about the ways women respond differently to stress in a “tend or befriend” pattern rather than a “fight or flight” pattern. Another first time student participant, Elizabeth Curtis, showed research done regarding fasting and the impact hunger can have on memory. A third student, Trisha Reece, who was a second time student showcase presenter, displayed a project based around the psychology of addiction and treatment.

Other projects covered topics such as the effect of social media on mental health and the possible correlation between high self esteem and athletic ability.

Novak showed the movie “Fight Club” and did a psychological analysis on the movie. HIP did their own presentation called “The Bystander Effect.” The Military Science Club was also at the showcase, with a booth set up downstairs in Ochoco.

The student presenters were accompanied by music from “Overlooked” a band made up of COCC students Larry Farrington and Peter Brown. The bassist, also a COCC student, preferred to be called “Wilson.”

Corrales mentioned that the COPE Club sends letters to each COCC club to find potential speakers for the event, but that this term there was not as much involvement as there typically is.

COCC’s student showcase happens every term the Wednesday before finals week and all community members are welcome to join. For more information about the COPE Club or presenting in the spring showcase, please contact Matt Novak at: mnovak@cocc.edu