High School Research Symposium

What is the Annual High School Research Symposium?

The Annual High School Research Symposium hosted by Saint Ignatius High School is a one-day event in which students from across the diocese are invited to share their research findings, work, and projects with a wider audience of peer researchers. Students will not only have the opportunity to present their academic work in a professional setting, but they will also have a chance to learn from, meet, and dialogue with student researchers from other Catholic schools across the greater Cleveland area. Students may present individually or in teams of 3-4. Each session allows for 30-35 minutes of presentation time and 10-15 minutes of questions and discussion with the audience. Each session will be moderated by an adult or student researcher and audiences of peers, teachers, advisors, and parents will be welcome to attend sessions to listen to presentations and participate in discussions.

Objectives

• To provide an engaging venue for student researchers across the diocese to share their original work and connect that work to the core values of our Catholic faith.
• To provide opportunities for students to not only present their work in a professional, academic conference-style setting but also to foster their presentation and oral communication skills.
• To allow individuals and teams of students to network and engage intellectually with other students across the Cleveland diocese.

Call for Papers

We are pleased to invite submissions from individual students or teams of students working on research projects, papers, or other creative work, who are interested in presenting their research to an audience of peers, teachers, parents, and advisors. Research papers and projects from any discipline or cross-disciplinary context are encouraged. Papers and projects that examine issues connected to our faith and/or to justice issues are particularly encouraged. All research proposed must be the original work of the student, and all presentations must include citations for any work referenced that is not their own. Any student in grades 10-12 is eligible to submit a proposal.

Students may submit proposals for sharing their research in any of the following formats:

Individual Presentation (10 minutes or less per presenter, followed by panel discussion)

Individual researchers will be assigned to a 45-minute panel and will present their work alongside peers with similar topics or themes.

Team Presentation (30 minutes or less per team, followed by panel discussion)

Teams of students may present together on related topics or on a collaborative project. The team should take, in total, no more than 30 minutes to present their collected work.

Poster Session (30-minute session)

Individual students or small groups of students may present their work through a poster. Students will stand alongside their posters and engage in informal discussion with attendees, who will have the chance to circulate and ask presenters questions.

Each student should be prepared to present their findings in a polished and professional presentation. Presentations may include PPT and other multimedia. Posters should be no larger than 3’x4’. Students selected for participation will be provided a list of tips for polishing and preparing their presentations for an audience.

Submissions and Acceptance Timeline:

• Submissions Portal Opens: Dec. 2, 2024
• Submissions Portal Closes: Jan. 31, 2025
• Notification of Acceptance: Feb. 10, 2025