My poster will show my findings of my qualitative study, Effective Pedagogical Strategies and Their Impacts in Holistic Education Environments, as well as my self-study observing holistic strategies and later implementing certain strategies. My research includes interviewing six directors or teachers who work in holistic learning environments—Waldorf, Montessori, Reggio Emelia, and other holistic schools—about the strategies that they use and how effective they are. The other part of my research is a self-study in which I will observe a Montessori school in Southern Oregon for two weeks and the last week, I'll implement strategies that I've found to be effective. I include a wide variety of studies in my literature review, some of which weren’t based on schools within the United States, as this research is limited. My hope is that the interviews will allow me to hypothesize why certain strategies are effective in student success. I plan to account for limitations to my findings by understanding that my sample size is small and different branches of holistic education may have different outcomes. For the self-study part of my research, I’ll take into account that the students I’ll be implementing the effective strategies with will know me for only five days. Additionally, I understand that I have not had a sufficient amount of time to practice these strategies, which may affect my ability to implement them with fidelity.

When a child needs or would benefit from a medical procedure in regards to abuse it may be difficult to determine who gets to decide what should happen. The purpose of the study is to perform a comprehensive descriptive literature review of best practice regarding the decision-making process to perform both forensic medical examination and emergency procedures. This will include how a provider should obtain and respond to child assent or dissent to a medical procedure, as well as how providers should interact with all parties involved in the potential decision making process. This would include determining how and when a child is allowed to make their own medical decisions, and what happens if it is determined they are not able to decide. At the time of this presentation research will be ongoing. This presentation will focus on the cursory observations about the current literature.

First-generation Latinx students continue to face systemic barriers in higher education, including financial hardship, limited access to mentorship, and lack of institutional representation. While Latinx enrollment has increased over time, gaps in retention and graduation rates persist. This study examines how outreach, academic advising, and institutional support programs impact the educational journeys of first-generation Latinx students at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). This project is currently in the preliminary stages and will be using a qualitative research design, that will consist of five to ten semi-structured interviews with currently enrolled first-generation Latinx students. This data will be analyzed by using content analysis and thematic analysis that will explore student engagement with campus resources, the impact of advising strategies, and perceptions of outreach efforts. The goal is to understand which support systems students find most effective and what gaps still exist in institutional services. By centering student experiences, this research aims to contribute to the development of more inclusive and proactive support structures in higher education. The findings will offer insight into how universities can better serve underrepresented student populations and promote long-term academic success for first-generation Latinx students.