Highlights

Honors Sociology Research Project (Spring 2021)

As a member of the Honors Program at Trinity, I was required to do what they called "Honors work in the major." This could have been a number of things, but for me, it was a group sociological research project with other Honors students. There were 4 upperclassmen (myself included) and upwards of 20 underclassmen; we formed 4 groups of 4 to 6 underclassmen with one of the upperclassmen leading the group, all working together. Each group would interview individuals and organizations involved in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago and/or the issue of housing equity. The class focused on housing equity in the neighborhood of South Shore, but also looked into and discussed racial inequalities in wealth and housing. This class was a lot of work, but I think that it was also one of my favorite classes and the most informative.

Thrive Student Mentor (Fall 2019 and Fall 2020)

I was a Thrive student mentor in the falls of my Sophomore and Junior years. At Trinity, Thrive is the class/program that is meant to help incoming freshmen in their first semester of college. The first fall that I did Thrive was pre-Covid, so we were able to meet in person. We met every Monday morning in a classroom to go over the plans for the week, the homework, and to give the students information from Trinity about events and expectations. I co-led my Thrive group with a Trinity professor, but we both agreed that I would teach the class because we thought it would be good practice for me as an education student. We talked about topics such as worldview, implicit bias, prejudice, justice, and diversity. We took a trip to Chicago with all the Thrive groups where each group was able to do their own thing; my group and a couple other groups went to the Shedd Aquarium. The second fall was during covid, so everything was virtual. That semester was a little more difficult; I couldn't meet any of my group members in person and some of them weren't even on campus. I tried to do a virtual game night through Zoom, but it was difficult to find a good time that worked with everyone's class schedules and the time differences. I didn't feel like I actually did anything with Thrive that second time, and it was disappointing compared to the first time I mentored.

OPUS 2021 Research Presentation

In the fall of 2020, I took a class called History of Africa and wrote a research paper discussing the ideas of sexuality on the African continent before, during, and after colonialism. My professor suggested that I present my paper at OPUS in the spring. At Trinity, OPUS is a convention of sorts where students can present their work from previous semesters to Trinity students and faculty as well as anyone outside of Trinity. I submitted my paper to the OPUS committee and was given approval to present my paper. I was incredibly nervous as I had never presented a research paper to multiple people before and when the day came to present, the room was packed with a mix of people that I knew and people I had never met before. I had made some edits to my paper to try and shorten it without losing important information as I only had about 15 minutes to present a 10-11 page paper. Even with the edits, I ran out of time and was not able to present my entire paper. Despite that, I got a lot of really helpful comments and compliments on the paper. I think that if I got the chance to do this again, I would perhaps create a presentation rather than just reading my paper.