Marietta College seniors take top spot in OCA poster competition

by Taylor Strnad

Marietta, Ohio (10/11/2021) — Marietta College's Felipe Cruz '22 (Marietta, Ohio) and Samantha Rubadue '22 (Ironton, Ohio) won the Top Undergraduate Student Poster Award at the 85th annual Ohio Communication Association Conference on October 2nd.

Their poster, titled "For the Good of Women's Health," focused on data from a research trip they went on with Assistant Professor of Communication Cody Clemens in May of this year. They spent a week in Charlotte, North Carolina, visiting abortion clinics.

"Our research was about the constant tension, mental health issues and burnout that surround the environment of an abortion clinic, with an emphasis on the ones involved in the process, such as clinic employers, physicians, nurses and volunteers," Cruz said. "We wanted to hear people's stories and shed more light into an area that has very little visibility."

For Rubadue, this research is important, and it gives a voice to people who experience what is going on in abortion clinics. She said it is so easy to lose those voices when there is so much misinformation shared.

Clemens said he is so proud of both Cruz and Rubadue for winning this award.

"I am confident that both Felipe and Sam will not only excel in graduate school, but they will thrive in their future careers," Clemens said. "I feel fortunate to have played a small part in their journey."

Both Cruz and Rubadue are proud to bring the award back to Marietta College. Cruz said he hopes their win encourages more students to engage in research projects.

The conference theme for 2021 was "Resilience Through Communication." Each year the conference commits itself to fostering thoughtful and meaningful scholarship in the field of communication.

Located in Marietta, Ohio, at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio rivers, Marietta College is a four-year liberal arts college. Tracing its roots to the Muskingum Academy back in 1797, the College was officially chartered in 1835. Today Marietta College serves a body of 1,200 full-time students. The College offers more than 50 majors and is consistently ranked as one of the top regional comprehensive colleges by U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review, as well as one of the nation's best by Forbes.com. Marietta was selected seventh in the nation according to the Brookings Institution's rankings of colleges by their highest value added, regardless of major. Marietta College has also been named a Great College to Work For four consecutive years (2018-2021).

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