For eight seniors a year (or years, in some cases) of research culminated in 15 minutes of glory.

On April 24, seniors in the University Honors Program presented thier senior projects to an audience of their peers, teachers and friends. The projects, which ranged from a collection of short stories to potentially groundbreaking research in stratistics, were the products of over a year of work and research.

Every student hoping to graduate in the honors program has to complete a final project. A total of 16 seniors presented projects. The other eight seniors who did not present Tuesday presented to their departments on other days.

Before 2009, UHP offered a honors certificate program that allowed honors seniors to graduate without preparing a senior project. Bethany Wilde, music industry business senior, is glad the program mandates that seniors do the project. “It allows students to wrap up what they have been working on,” Wilde said.

Although Wilde is in the music industry program, she has a minor in ballet and choreographed a ballet for her project.

Though all topics presented this year were within the area of the students’ major or minor, students could do their project in whatever field they chose, provided that they were able to find a qualified advisor.

“It’s a lot of work, so if you’re doing a thesis, you should be passionate about your project,” said Dominique Kasindi, psychology pre-med senior. “Otherwise, you will have a hard time producing something you are proud of. With that said, my experience has been great.”