Junior Sarah Coblentz wins Boe Award as 10 Southeastern students present at Great Plains Honors Council annual conference

March 14, 2025

DENTON, Texas – The Southeastern Oklahoma State University Honors program was represented by 10 students at the annual conference of the Great Plains Honors Council, which was held at the University of North Texas on March 7-9.

These students made oral presentations and research posters, with Sarah Coblentz winning the GPHC’s Dennis Boe Award, which showcases and rewards outstanding scholarly writing. Coblentz is a junior political science and history double major from Celina, Texas, who is also on the Savage Storm cross country and track and field teams and plays the oboe in the Southeastern Symphonic Bands.

Coblentz’ paper “Watchfires of Freedom” was selected as a Boe Award winner for 2025 and will be published in this year’s edition of The Windmill, the GPHC’s annual journal.

Other Southeastern Honors students presenting at the conference were:

Emma Hamblin’s oral presentation on “The Role of Purity in Shaping the Female Gender: Religious Ideals and Historical Transformations”
Kai Jones’ oral presentation on “The Use of Religion to Support an Argument in The Song of Roland and The Book of the City of Ladies”
Kai Jones’ poster on “Protein Characterization of Redbud (Cercis canadensis) Tree Seeds”
Caydee Kennedy’s oral presentation on “Intertextuality: The Relationship Between Stories of Female Martyrs”
Chelsea Maxwell’s oral presentation on “The Legalization and Regulation of Prostitution in the United States of America”
Paige Moody’s oral presentation on “Jewish Life and Strife in Early World Civilizations”
Hailie Pittman’s oral presentation on “Travel Writing in Scotland and England”
Dava Schreier’s oral presentation on “A Comparison of the Portrayal of Powerful Women in the 14th and 15th Centuries”
Mikayla Spiering’s poster on “A Comparative Study of Parentification and Resiliency in Adolescents”

The Great Plains Honors Council serves collegiate honors programs in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas. Coordinating its activities with the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC), the Great Plains organization promotes the flow of information, ideas, fellowship and professional encouragement throughout its member programs.