SHOW AND TELL
T
he topics vary as much as the students who pursue them — and so do the lessons learned. We asked a smattering of members of the Class of 2021 to tell us about their senior projects and share the biggest takeaways from the capstone academic experience. (To make it more fun, see if you can match the senior with the project; answers on p. 47.)
WILL ANDRIOLA
SHAVELL JONES
LINDSAY GEARTY
“I learned that I could successfully complete a long-term project integrating historical background and statistical analysis all while navigating data-sets that were often in a foreign language!”
“I learned how to make
“I gained confidence in my ability to problemsolve and learned the importance of being able to adapt to new challenges.”
cross-cultural connections and question my own assumptions. Completing a senior thesis also taught me important skills that will be useful for further research in graduate school.”
SOPHIA COREN
AMY HARFF
MAJESTIC TERHUNE
“Working on my project for the past year has shown me that I can contribute meaningful knowledge to my field and empowered me to share my experiences and beliefs unabashedly.”
“I learned to trust the process. The initial plan and the final result were completely different, and because I let the project reveal itself slowly — instead of sticking to the original plan — I was much happier with the result.”
“I learned that here, at the end of my college career, I really am a scholar in my field. Beyond glimpsing into academia, I engage with it, too.”
ADEOTO “ADE” SOTINWA
12
“The biggest thing I learned was the importance of subjective intuition in research. This may seem counterintuitive as we are often taught to look at empirical evidence objectively, but in my limited experience, subjective intuition is necessary in figuring out which questions to H A M I LTO N ask to begin with.”
AMANDA KIM
JESSE ELMER
“Through my senior project, I gained greater confidence in my own capacity for creative independent thought and learned how to turn abstract questions into empirically supported conclusions.”
“My project taught me that no small contribution is meaningless and helped me internalize that the pursuit of knowledge is valuable in and of itself.”