

My thesis served as a foundation for understanding the complex messaging of an educational program at a grand scale, and helped me to appreciate the perspectives of the many stakeholders involved in a successful initiative.
The thesis project is a publishable-quality document that is a secondary review or analysis of some area of the sociology of education literature, or a thesis based on original research, including a report of findings and a review of relevant scholarly literature. We encourage students to begin thinking about their area of specialization as soon as they enter to the program and to begin to formulate a thesis project by their second semester. This allows students to choose courses which are relevant to their thesis work.
All students do an oral presentation of their thesis work. We hold public sessions each year during which students deliver an oral summary of their thesis work and faculty and students have the opportunity to engage in a brief discussion of the work.
I decided on the actual topic for my thesis while at a drag show. I realized that the space had aspects of what I hoped schools can feel like for students… exploring gender in ways that were both celebratory and critical. Having this expertise in the subject matter gave me the confidence to apply to later roles at Girls Who Code and Lesbians Who Tech + Allies (my current role).
I was hired by the University of Florida as a Research Assistant assisting the data collection team for Florida DOE’s educational policy initiative regarding some of the largest educational achievement gaps in the nation. Honestly, I think my thesis played a huge part in helping me land this job since I focused it on inequality and achievement among Latinx students specifically.