Brooke Tader presents her research on April 5 in Hagg-Sauer Hall.

Hundreds of students representing the breadth of graduate and undergraduate disciplines at Bemidji State University shared their work during the 18th Annual Student Achievement Conference on April 5.

The conference introduced several new elements and succeeded in its goal of increasing participation, which was up by nearly 25 percent over last year.

One side of Memorial Hall, home for the conference’s poster presentations, featured exhibitions from art and music students, including a performance from five members of the BSU Jazz Band. This year’s conference also debuted an “elevator speech” competition in which students had one minute to recap their presentations. The top three finishers won BSU Bookstore gift cards.

Presentations included a Rubik’s Cube-solving robot, outreach by the President’s Student Commission to encourage college aspirations among youngsters at the Bemidji Boys & Girls Club, a plan for a three-semester college jazz curriculum and an examination of how the Dawes Act of 1887 affected life on American Indian reservations in the early 20th century.

A total of 281 students participated in the conference — 144 in oral presentations in Hagg-Sauer Hall, 151 in poster presentations, 23 in art and music exhibits and five in the jazz ensemble.

“The art and music exhibitions were amazing,” said Dr. Mahmoud Al-Odeh, associate professor of technology, art and design and coordinator of this year’s conference. “It was a great addition to the conference and reflected the talents that we have here at BSU.”

Motivational speaker Orna Drawas delivered the conference’s keynote address, encouraging her audience to make small changes in their lives on the path to unleashing their inner rock star.