CoPA Student and Alumnus Awarded Leatherby Libraries Research Prizes Mentee/mentor pair, Megan Lewandowski and Connor Bogenreif, are awarded for their impressive use of the Chapman library’s resources.

Megan Lewandowski, a CoPA student double majoring in Music & Psychology, and Connor Bogenreif, a CoPA alumnus, staff member, faculty member, and Chapman doctoral student, have each won a Leatherby Libraries research prize! Both Megan and Connor participated in The Panther Network Mentoring program this semester, which brings together alumni with current students, and they were a mentor/mentee pair.

Megan Lewandowski and faculty advisor, Dr. Carrie Dike

Hall-Musco Conservatory of Music student Megan Lewandowski secured the Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize and made her mark as the first music student to win first place with her project, “‘The Chip Off the Block’: The 21st-Century Legacy of Schoolhouse Rock!”. This campus-wide prize is given to the student who makes the most impressive and successful use of the library’s resources and materials.

Megan Lewandowski is a senior graduating with a BA in Music and a BA in Psychology. She completed this project for her capstone in Music, with the final product being a 58-page undergraduate thesis. In it, Megan examined the social, political, and educational legacy of Schoolhouse Rock! in the 21st century and found that it serves as a marker of shared generational experience, a vehicle for political comedy, commentary, and calls to action, and the foundation for a variety of musical education practices in place today, from teacher parody songs and student projects to full private curricula. She concluded that the influence and longevity of Schoolhouse Rock! are rooted in its creators’ genuine, earnest intentions to help their children learn, which can and should inform how we go about educating and engaging students today.

Lewandowski shares, “Writing this research paper was by far the biggest undertaking of my academic career, but even though the process was hard, it was also deeply rewarding. I am so proud of my final product, and so grateful for the support of my faculty mentors Dr. Dike and Dr. Sternfeld, my classmates, and my friends and family.”

Connor Bogenreif & Megan Lewandowski

Connor Bogenreif (along with co-authors Robin Gomes and Mir Aminy, under the guidance of Dr. Douglas Havard) was awarded second prize for the Eric M. Scandrett Graduate Research Prize for their work in Chapman’s Attallah College of Educational Studies Ph.D. program. Their research examined The Role of Repertoire Selection and Teacher Collaboration in Culturally Responsive Music Education.

This mentor/mentee pairing proudly represented the College of Performing Arts and was awarded a certificate of achievement, a cash prize, recognition on Leatherby Library’s blog, and had their winning applications showcased in the Chapman University Digital Commons with an invitation to have their projects published.