April 23, 2024
Shawnee State University senior Ashlynn Pfau presented her own project of increasing environmental awareness through childhood literacy at this year’s Celebration of Scholarship conference. A Natural Science major concentrated on Biology, Pfau’s project “You Can Be An Earth Warrior Too”, a children’s book she created from scratch, was recognized with the Trustees’ Award by the conference committee.
“The idea came from my advisor, Dr. Sarah Ivers, after participating in the refurbishing of a mural that was on the side of a bunkhouse during our field biology trip to Costa Rica,” explained Pfau. “During this trip, my advisor noticed that I like to create art and that I enjoy it, and so when it came to deciding on a project, it felt natural to go in this direction.”
A member of SSU’s Project BEAR (Building Emerging & Achieving Readers), Pfau saw her creation of a children’s book as a way to further her work in the program of helping kids to improve their foundational literacy skills.
“After creating all the material for the book, I presented at the Ohio Biological Survey conference in February,” she said. “After my presentation, I was offered to be published by the Ohio Biological Survey. What started off as a simple senior project to make me more competitive for graduate school, turned into an opportunity that I would’ve never expected.”
Being recognized with the Trustees’ Award during the Celebration of Scholarship conference was a confirmation of the hard work she has put into her book project so far.
“After dedicating almost a year of my life to it, the hard work that I’ve done was not fully realized until receiving an offer of publication and this award,” she said. “It fills me with joy to know that other people see value in my work – that I can make a change for the better of our future.”
To learn more about Shawnee State University’s annual Celebration of Scholarship conference, visit shawnee.edu/cos.