Congratulations Devin Dadah!

Devin Dadah won the Chancellor's Award for the 17th annual RCCD Conference for his abstract, "'Napalm Sticks to Kids:' The U.S. Process of Dehumanization During
the Vietnam War".

Devin Dadah won this award for the first time in Norco College's history.

The prevalent and pervasive narrative surrounding the Vietnam War in the United States oftentimes avoids the sheer brutality committed by U.S. troops. Investigative journalist Nick Turse, along with testimonies from U.S. veterans, recalls this forgotten history and puts forth new evidence which illustrates the raw facts of the war: that civilian casualties were a systemic aspect of military policy, which could only be perpetuated by the deliberate dehumanization of the Vietnamese people.

            In the aftermath of the infamous ‘My Lai Massacre’ the Pentagon created the Vietnam War Crimes Working Group. The secret task force worked to gather evidence of atrocities committed during the war. Turse asserts that their findings proved that ‘My Lai’ was not an anomalous occurrence. Atrocities such as ‘My Lai’ were commonplace throughout the war. During military boot camp, drill instructors' insistence on using slurs and failures in understanding the 1949 Geneva Conventions generated a culture of cruelty. The “body count” policy adopted by the military punished soldiers for not attaining certain kill quotas. This incentivized the killing of innocent civilians and captured detainees when units fell short on their quotas. The tropical, bug infested and labyrinth-like jungles of Vietnam often exhausted soldiers. These frustrations led to violent outbursts in rural villages. Simultaneously, soldiers were met with short tours that didn't allow for adjustment to the landscape, people, and culture.

The importance in understanding these manifestations of dehumanization is paramount in the prevention of future analogous actions by the U.S. and the global community.

 

Congratulations Zayd Qazi!

Zayd Qazi won the President's Award for the 17th annual RCCD Conference for his abstract, "The Relations of Social Media, Video Games, and Mindfulness".

Due to the ever-growing popularity of social media, concern has arisen over its incredibly stimulating nature, and whether it leads to addiction. Previous research has found mindfulness to be negatively correlated with addictive social media use (Brailovskaia & Margraf, 2024; Hassan & Pandey, 2021). These studies posited mindfulness as a protective factor against potential addiction. Problematic social media use has also been found to be positively correlated with stress (Si et al., 2024). Social media can expose users to additional stress in several ways. Users can receive news about global catastrophes or tragedies that afflict individual lives. Some use social media to post about the positive occasions in their lives, however, others may view this curated feed and compare themselves to this unrealistic standard. In this way, they place additional expectations and stress on themselves. Higher levels of stress relate to higher levels of negative emotions (An et al., 2019). However, mindfulness reduces the strength of this connection. This emphasizes the importance of mindfulness, especially among those who use social media. This paper uses open-source data collected from surveys on college and university campuses from across the United States, comprising of 3134 responses (Grahe et al., 2018). The survey items regarding social media assess motivations for social media use. This study investigates the relationship between mindfulness and stress among the different motivation groups.

 

Congratulations Hania Kashif!

Hania Kashif won the HTCC Honors Abstract Award for her abstract, "Beyond Sunlight: Poly-metallic Nodules and the Mystery of Dark Oxygen".

 

Polymetallic nodules on the ocean floor offer insights into alternative oxygen production mechanisms in marine environments. While traditional oxygen production relies on photosynthesis, the discovery of dark oxygen–  a form of oxygen generated through anaerobic microbial processes– opens new perspectives on the global oxygen cycle. This study hypothesizes that polymetallic nodules contribute to oxygen production through electrochemical processes, playing a potential role in oxygen cycling in deep-sea environments under anaerobic conditions. Specific bacteria, such as Methylomirabilis oxyfera, play a critical role in oxygen generation under anoxic conditions by utilizing nitrogen oxides (NOx) to internally produce oxygen. Recent studies have demonstrated that polymetallic nodules (composed of metals like nickel, cobalt, and manganese) may facilitate electrochemical reactions, thus enhancing microbial activity. These nodules have been proven to create microenvironments with specific voltage potentials, which may support the biochemical pathways of oxygen-utilizing bacteria, particularly in low-oxygen settings. Beyond Earth, these processes could provide a model for potential life on celestial bodies with extreme environments or where sunlight is minimal. The concept of dark oxygen—oxygen produced in the absence of sunlight—may represent a critical mechanism through which life could persist in foreign environments, expanding our understanding of where and how life could exist beyond Earth. By suggesting that oxygen-dependent life forms may exist in anoxic conditions like those around polymetallic nodules, this research underscores the urgent need for interdisciplinary studies to explore the potential of these nodules in sustaining microbial life and maintaining ecological balance on Earth and beyond.

Congratulations Devin Dadah!

Devin Dadah won the HTCC Exemplary Achievement Award for the first time in Norco College's history.

The first Honors course I took at Norco College was an art history class which analyzed the art of the Western Renaissance. It was a requirement for my major in History, and I was not entirely pleased. I had preconceived notions about college-level art courses: I thought them to be pompous and irrelevant. The course was rigorous, tedious, and frustrating at times, but within a few weeks I was in awe. My preconceived notions were based on falsehoods, and a deep yearning for higher education formed within me.

From that initial course I became addicted to Honors courses. I became the only student at Norco College to take 7 unique Honors courses and attained A grades in each one. I understood the study of history to be the greatest exercise in empathy. The freedom Honors allowed to siphon through humanity's past led to an inevitable requirement of excellence, and candor, in assembling the patchwork of historical truth. And I challenged myself, knowing that if I did not value my own intellect in a meaningful way, I’d be performing a great injustice.

I quickly excelled, presenting novel research at the RCCD Student Research Conference and HTCC Conference. I became the first-ever Norco College student to be awarded the Chancellor’s Award (the highest-level award) at the RCCD Conference, for my research on the U.S. dehumanization of Vietnamese people during the Vietnam War. I’ve been given the honor of being a Student of Distinction in the School of Humanities for my research on the Haitian Revolution, the Iraq War, and post-colonial societies. Routinely, professors say I am doing graduate-level work, they wonder why I’m not yet working on my PhD, and one even offered me a work-study as a researcher.

When the Honors Program called for student leaders, I stepped up. I became Vice President of the student-led Honors club and then President. For years I worked to rebuild the Honors Program. I recruited students and cultivated their confidence to apply to conferences. In classes students came to rely on my insights about our world to do their Honors research. I read, reviewed, and gave feedback to countless essays, acting as a de-facto teaching assistant.  I organized panels on pertinent topics ultimately fulfilling a need in the community. My greatest pride is putting on the first-ever Israel/Palestine panel discussion at Norco College and getting leading scholars in the field, such as UC Berkeley’s Ussama Makdisi and Ted Swedenburg, University of Arkansas. I even wrote the Honors club constitution and came up with the foresight to write a living document about my time in office and my philosophy on leadership for future Presidents of Honors.

My time at Norco College has been a humbling experience. I went from a bitter art history hating fool, to serving my community, and myself, in more ways than one. It is through this that I know the true achievement will be leaving Norco College better than how I found it.