The goal of the project is to continue evaluating a cohort of St. Lawrence students who have been followed and repeatedly interviewed since their first year on campus. This is the 5th and final phase of Professor Alanna Gillis’s longitudinal study of students’ experiences with the pandemic and how its after-effects vary, according to student background and institutional choices. By conducting in-depth semi structured interviews with the same group of SLU students that have been interviewed since 2020, our research team working to analyze their experiences, including the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, students transitions out of college and the impact of student backgrounds and institutional policies.
This research and analysis is ongoing and will culminate in a year-round SYE answering my own research question — how do students' social and economic backgrounds affect their transitions out of college? The goals is for this research to be presented at a sociology conference during the spring 2025 semester and, potentially, to result in a published paper.
Along with gaining practical experience to research specifically, such as how to analyze data and interpret results, I developed strong interview skills after conducting nearly 20 interviews with students from all different backgrounds.