Annual Connections Project Highlights Students Hard Work

Published: April 27, 2023

All throughout College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) Nampa Campus Academic Building (NCAB) Thursday, April 20, students around the College community came together for the eighth-annual Connections Project. The event celebrates and showcases the hard work and accomplishments of CWI’s students.

Winners of this year’s Connections Excellence Awards were presented at the Connections Project reception and at CWI’s Student Leadership Banquet. Finalists were determined by a panel of judges, and each received $100 and $150 prizes.

Congratulations to this year’s Connections Excellence Award Winners:

Posters

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Category

  • Winner — Amelia Baer, Maturity of Baby Sounds
  • Runner Up — Madeline Titelbaum, Penguin Watch: Measuring the Impacts of Climate Change
  • Runner Up — Megan Jablonski, NASA Globe Cloud Gaze

Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS) Category

  • Winner — Kylie Fontenot, Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Education System - Ethics Project
  • Runner Up — Gabbi Bergeron, How To Empower Youth in English as a Second Language Classrooms and Respect Diversity in Your Community
  • Runner Up — Leah Johnson, So You Think You Want a Job
  • Runner UpAngelica Kopets, Attachment Styles and Relation to Potential of Partner Monitoring Based on the Frequency of Social Media Use

Recorded Mini-Talk

Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS) Category

  • Winner — John Aue, The Significance of Accessible Education
  • Runner Up — Jesse Hoffer, Making a Change
  • Runner Up — Augustin Winn-Arandeda, A Strong History Event That Happened in Chile

Live Mini-Talk

Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS) Category

  • Winner — Jennie Bartus, If I Can’t See You, You Can’t See Me
  • Runner Up — Savannah Werner, Andrew Sargent & Val Harris, Psychological Myths & Misconceptions

Club

  • Winner — Philosophy Club
  • Runner Up — Anthropology Club, Northwest Anthropological Conference Attendance

Other Cool Stuff

  • Winner — Carly Rapp, Canyon County Youth Court
  • Runner Up — Julia Alvarado, Node Code Breakers
  • Runner Up — Audrey Dorosh, Worms – A Project
  • Runner Up — Tiffany Black, The Project Approach: Flowers

Juried Art Exhibition

  • Winner — Khanh Dang, Flesh and Raw

Logo Contest

  • Winner — Eiko Pruett

Chalk Art Competition

  • Winner — Mila Maes and David Bru, Cinderella Sardine

Thank you to the judges, instructors, and participants of this year’s Connection Project, and congratulations, again, to the winners!

More from CWI

Three CNA students stand in lab

Access to healthcare education is growing in Valley County thanks to new partnerships between CWI, McCall Rehabilitation and Care Center, and McCall-Donnelly High School.

Read more about Partnerships Expand Certified Nursing Assistant Training Opportunities in Valley County
Studio Art students at the Nampa Festival of Arts

Studio Art students and faculty judged the Juried Arts Competition at the 39th Annual Nampa Festival of the Arts, Aug. 8 and 9.

Read more about CWI Studio Art Celebrates Local Arts
Kellan Brown leans against the wall

Kellan Brown came to CWI with questions about people and the human experience. Through anthropology, he’s discovering where those questions can take him.

Read more about Brown Builds a Future in Anthropology
Autumn Harvey wearing her medal in front of a car

From the classroom to the national stage, CWI graduate, Autumn Harvey, turned technical skill and determination into gold and a career.

Read more about Harvey Builds a Gold Medal Career
Alex Nava on a staircase

Refusing to give up, Alex Nava overcame extraordinary challenges to earn his degree and start a new chapter in accounting.

Read more about Getting Back Up
Faculty and student with a certificate

Nominated by faculty, students were selected based on their commitment to learning, perseverance, innovative thinking, leadership, and professionalism in and outside of the classroom.

Read more about 2027 Emerging Scholars
Autumn Harvey celebrating her win
Courtesy: SkillsUSA

Competing against some of the nation's top career and technical education students, CWI earned national recognition with two medal-winning entries.

Read more about CWI Students Earn National Recognition at 2026 SkillsUSA Championships
Khye Montoya leans on fire truck

Firefighters often talk about trust. For Khye Montoya, that feeling of trust was familiar long before he stepped onto a fire engine.

Read more about Montoya Finds His Place in the Fire Service
Marquez Arredondo poses in front of firefighter gear

Marquez Arredondo turned a life-changing experience into a career dedicated to helping others through CWI's Fire Service Technology program.

Read more about Arredondo Answers the Call
Fire student at a fire truck with a hose

After stepping away from firefighting, Hunter Stephenson rediscovered his passion for the profession and found his way back through CWI.

Read more about Reigniting a Passion
Student speaks in front of audience

Students put classroom skills into action at the Spring 2026 Rookie Speech and Debate Tournament, reviving a beloved tradition.

Read more about Rookie Tournament Gives Students a Chance to Put Skills Into Action
Confetti falls on the crowd at commencement

The event marked the largest graduating class in school history and the College’s first commencement ceremony held at the Ford Idaho Center on CWI’s Nampa Campus.

Read more about More than 1,800 Honored at 17th Commencement

News QR Code

URL: https://cwi.edu/news/annual-connections-project-highlights-students-hard-work<br>