Taking Their Final Bows

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Senior
What hasn’t changed in
Taking Their Final Bows
Seniors Shine During Capstone/Thesis Projects
After months of encouragement and
support from faculty members, Arcadia’s
seniors proudly presented their capstone
projects in April. Here are some
highlights:
40 million years? If you
guessed the microscopic
invertebrate bdelloid
rotifer, found in ponds,
you’d be correct.
Biology major Patrick
Blake researched the
asexual reproduction of the rotifer, a
species that has survived despite the fact
that it has not reproduced sexually. The
rotifer has diversified into 360 different
species.
Nora McIntire’s project will make you
think twice next time you take a drink
out of a plastic bottle.
McIntire’s library research
focused on a hormone
(bisphenol-A) used in
plastics, which in large
doses can cause a cell
disruption that may
lead to cancer and other
health problems. “The
Federal Drug Administration
(FDA) says that it is safe because it is
used in such small doses,” says McIntire.
“But when you think about how often we
are exposed to plastics, at what point do
small doses become large enough to cause
damage?”
Dianne Palmer’s project will get the
attention of parents with a child on
SSRIs (Selective Seratonin Reuptake
Inhibitors), frequently used to treat
depression. According to Palmer’s
conclusions, SSRIs are not safe for
children because the drugs “take you way
down before bringing you up again.
Adolescents aren’t
developed enough,
and their reactions
are different than
those of adults,” she
says. “They act more
out of impulse.” She
says that adolescents
on SSRIs are 50 percent
more likely to commit suicide, and many
countries have banned them. The FDA
says that the benefits outweigh the risks
at this time.
Fine arts major Heather
Hicks spent a
semester in
Doylestown at the
Henry Chapman
Mercer House,
studying the famed
tilemaker’s work.
Every surface of
Mercer’s home, adjacent to
the Mercer Museum, is covered in tile, as
it was once a showplace for him to sell
his work. “His tiles were a reflection of
himself and his business, and they told
stories,” she says. “For him, beauty was
not enough; it had to send a message.”
Physical therapy student Ned Crane put
his thesis work to immediate use helping
stroke patients regain their gait. Crane
developed a new technique, borrowed
from the upper extremities, to help
patients relearn to walk.
Using a gait belt to
constrain the
patient’s good leg,
Crane twice helped
patients equalize
the strength in
both legs.
Lauren Murray, a
psychology/sociology major, examined
how society views impoverished women.
She claims that poor women are blamed
for everything from alcoholism and drug
use to crime and irresponsible sexuality,
“but people aren’t willing to
help women in poverty.
Most of the people in
the mainstream,
including those
who create
government policy,
don’t know much
about them.” Murray
says that “keeping women
poor is cheaper for governments than
actually changing the system.”

Thesis
Print communications major Beth
Puliti looked at how
females are represented
in two Disney movies
Snow White and
Aladdin. She found
that there wasn’t
much change in the
portrayal of the main
female characters even
though the films were made
50 years apart. In both movies, her
research found that the women still
needed to be rescued by men and use
their sexuality to get what they wanted.
“Disney films look so innocent and
magical,” Puliti says. “In reality, they are
not examples of how to live your life.”
Two students examined television
commercials. Stefani Polkowski looked
at stereotypical images of African
Americans in commercials
on two prime time
shows, Girlfriends,
aimed at African
Americans (on
UPN) and CSI,
aimed at a more
general audience (on
CBS). “Very rarely did
I see African Americans
in an office situation, and if they were at
home there was never a father,” she says.
In addition, Polkowski says that the
majority of African Americans featured
were celebrities or athletes.
Jessica Zbyszinski
studied commercials
aired during three
popular series: CSI,
Desperate Housewives and
American Idol. Her research found a few
disturbing things, especially a gender
inequality favoring men. “In the
commercials I surveyed, women are
usually subordinate,” she says. “For
example, in commercials that included
the workplace, there was usually a male
boss and a female secretary. At home, the
women did the work and the men
breezed in, ready for dinner.”
Psychology major Amanda Lerch
examined how adolescents and children
deal with traumatic grief.
She interned with the
Family of Medical
Victims in
Philadelphia,
helping to guide
families through trials
and beyond. She found
that if child victims of
traumatic grief are left untreated, they
are more prone to severe adult problems
such as drug abuse and suicide.
Graduate student Tiffani Taylor (Public
Health and Physician Assistant Studies)
researched the lack of
awareness about
breast and cervical
cancer among
college students.
Although many
students don’t have
much knowledge on
the subjects, Taylor says
that many want more information. While
84 percent of the women surveyed said
they do breast self exams, only 20 percent
knew how often to do them and for how
long. Also, only 50 percent go to a
gynecologist, though many are
sexually active. H
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