The RECAP program at West Liberty University will be completely virtual this year. RECAP is a competition and symposium that hosts West Liberty University students, both undergraduate and graduate, to recognize incredible accomplishments in research, performance, and creative activity. The different categories include paper, poster, performance, presentation, and creative works. Students can enter as many of the categories as they wish.

The faculty contacts for these topics are Dr. Melinda Kreisberg (Creative Work & Performance Presentations), Danielle Mehlman-Brightwell (Oral Presentation), Dr. Drew Banghart (Research Paper), and Dr. Gayle Jesse (Poster: Display & Presentation). Projects that were submitted to other WLU competitions and events, such as Ampersand, are allowed to be used here. An example of a winning project from 2019 was Dylan Parsons with his paper on “Practice and Religious Tolerance of Homosexuality in Medieval Europe.”

RECAP is usually hosted in person on campus, but as previously stated, has taken a virtual approach for the 2021 year due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Dr. Robert Kreisberg commented, “The biggest change is that students, except written entries, will be required to upload a video of their entry. The entries will then be judged. For students entering research posters, it is going to be a little different in that judges will evaluate the entries and the top two to four poster entries will then meet with judges, remotely, who will decide on the top entries.”

The RECAP board has worked hard to make sure that the competition can continue as planned with little interference. The winning students will each receive a Kindle Fire. The top three in each category will receive certificates that indicate as such. Perhaps the most important thing is that the winning students can also put on their resumes that they placed in the top three of a campus wide competition. Dr. Kreisberg wanted to emphasize that “…everyone who submits to RECAP is a winner.”

The submission deadline for RECAP is Friday, Mar. 5 at 5 p.m. The actual event will take place on Apr. 14. The rubrics for each category can be found on the RECAP page on West Liberty’s website. For more information, contact Dr. Robert Kreisberg at [email protected] or watch this video.