Multiple Saddleback College students earned awards at the UC Irvine Community College Honors Research Conference March 25 at UC Irvine.
Saddleback’s Hedieh Fahami won the Directors Award for their Oral Presentation project entitled “The Persistence to Remain: Resistance of the Cherokee Nation Against Removal.” The presentation documented how, while the U.S. worked to implement the Indian Removal Act in the 1830s, the Cherokee nation resisted through petitions, newspaper publications, and speeches.
Margot Lovett from Saddleback’s Gender and Sexuality Studies Department faculty was the mentor on the project.
The Directors Award is presented annually to the student who has submitted the finest presentation abstract and has been judged as exemplifying the qualities of an outstanding honors student. Fahami’s Directors Award is the fifth Saddleback College has earned overall.
Saddleback’s team of Zohal Noori, Nikou Bakhtiari, Masha Goodarzi, and Jerry Liu earned one of the conference’s four Outstanding Abstract awards for their oral presentation “Honey, Where is my Manuka?: The Effectiveness of Manuka Honey as a Topical Acne Treatment to Inhibit Staphylococcus aureus.”
Abby Sirulnik from the Biology Department faculty was the team’s mentor.
Noori also earned an Exemplary Achievement Scholarship, awarded to students graduating this year who show extraordinary achievement in scholarship.
In addition to Lovett and Sirulnik, Saddleback Honors Program faculty mentors include Tina Jenkins, Erica Vogel, and Ryan Hitch.
In other Honors Program news, two Saddleback College members of national honor society Phi Theta Kappa, Natalie Misri and Nava Mogharei, earned 2023 Phi Theta Kappa All-California Community College awards, announced March 27.
Award criteria for the Phi Kappa Theta All-California Community College honor are based on academic performance, leadership, and community service.