-by Victor Lopez ’17

I presented my findings in a poster presentation at WPA and it was received with a lot of attention. For an hour and fifteen minutes I did not stop talking. Different visitors, students, professors, and judges, all stopped and asked me questions about the project. Anybody that stopped and looked at my poster shared an anecdote about his or her personal experiences with their names. People from Korea and the Ukraine talked about their names and how my research resonated with their own personal lives. Additionally, fellow Latinos talked about naming their own children and how family ties is an important deciding factor in choosing a name.

While presenting my research was fun and exciting, it was also great to walk around and talk to other students about their research. There were a total of nine poster presentations ranging from developmental to international psychological issues. I talked to someone who studied the frequency of discrimination amongst the Latino community; there was also a poster on the effects of attractiveness and its relationship to sex-offenders. Overall, the research presented was incredibly interesting and fun to talk about.

I am very pro9ud of my research and I am grateful to the Berger Institute’s generosity, which has allowed me to share my research with fellow students and professors. This trip has been one of the biggest highlights of my college career.