![Kish, William [Biol]](http://blogs.longwood.edu/williamkish/files/2019/10/cropped-Buffalo-creek.jpg)
Throughout college, I have been building upon and honing my skills that will help for my future careers. In my classes, I started experiencing real life scenarios through presentations and or different writing styles. This has mainly been through writing general audience papers and presenting at symposiums that are open to the general public. Presenting orally and through writing was done through BIOL 288 Sophomore Seminar, BIOL 496 2018 PRISM, and BIOL 370 Ichthyology courses.
In my BIOL 288 course, I wrote a general audience paper in the style of a newspaper or magazine article. The purpose was to write in a way that people with little to no background on the subject would be able to understand what I was writing about. In this case, I wrote about vernal pools being more than just puddles. During my BIOL 496 2018 PRISM internship, I studied how vernal pools communities were affected by the season and other environmental parameters. The final presentation for it was an open to the public research symposium. People of all different disciplines including chemistry, physics, and computer science as well as the general public attended. I was able to convey the information I gathered in a way that people with a scientific background and those with no background could understand. Lastly, I presented my BIOL 251 project at the semester research symposium. Since this day is open to the whole university, people of all disciplines and backgrounds were able to listen to me present. In this case, it was an oral presentation where I presented on the crayfish amphibian interactions.
During my time at Longwood, I have been able to present to a large variety of audiences. Whether it was at the semester research symposium or a special research symposium for PRISM, I was able to convey my information to a general audience. I was able to practice my public speaking skills and practice my ability to be short and concise with my information. I also learned a new writing style for general audiences so I will be able to write to all audiences about my research.
Below is my general audience paper from BIOL 288.
Below is my BIOL 496 2018 PRISM poster presentation.
Below is my BIOL 370 presentation.