Cohort 38!
As the semester wraps up, so has Cohort 38’s 490H capstone projects, and on December 7, 2023, the entire QUEST community showed up to support them. In fact, 342 total people were in attendance!
The poster session where teams gave a preview for what was to come in their presentations.
The teams got to work with a variety of clients, such as Tronox, CPSI, MRAS, BAE Systems, Total Wine & More, McCormick & Company, Warrior Centric Health, Dixon Value, and Thales Defense & Security, Inc! While every one of the teams was exceptional, two teams, Queue S of A from Dixon Valve and Spice Girls from McCormick & Company, earned the Most Outstanding Capstone and Most Outstanding Poster awards respectively.
I got the chance to talk to Siri Rao from the Spice Girls team about how they thought of their poster design. She says that they “wanted to tell a story through [their] poster,” which was that of a baker using McCormick vanilla products in the process of baking. This was done by choosing the necessary information that was important to their project, all while thinking about how to make it into a cohesive story.
Team Spice Girls posing next to their poster that won the Most Outstanding Poster Award.
Rao says that creating the poster was a bit of “trial and error,” and the poster was only able to come from “incorporating a bit of each teammate’s iteration and style.” She wanted to specifically shout out her fellow teammate Abril Arias, as she was instrumental in the poster design as she was “hand-drawing many of the little details and bringing the poster to life.”
I was also able to speak with Daphne Ranti from Queue S of A about the success of her project. Her team worked with Dixon Valve to find a solution for their slow-moving inventory. She says that the first thing her team did was go on a site visit to the company’s headquarters in Chestertown, MD, where they were able to gain insights that helped to “drive [their] understanding of the project and client recommendations.”
Team Queue S of A, alongside their clients from Dixon Valve, showcasing their poster.
Like the other QUEST courses that teach about teamwork, Ranti reminds us that “communication is integral to a cohesive team where everyone is on the same page and to professional settings so [that] the client understands what is happening and there are no surprises.” She expressed her appreciation for their client, Dixon Valve “for being involved and supportive each step of the way.”
They also want to thank the Quality Guild, specifically their professors Dr. Bardossy and Professor Ashley, as well as their TA Alexis Reyes, for their time and support. Again, huge congratulations to Cohort 38 on their successful conference, which showcased their hard work, not only on these projects but for their time in QUEST! For more photos from the conference, click here.