Author: aviv

Student Research Assistant

Job/Internship Opportunity, Openings and Opportunities, Research Assistant Opportunity
Student Research Assistant
The Department of English is looking to hire a student research assistant who will work approximately 6 hours per week (60 hours total per semester) with Prof. Alexa Alice Joubin on her new book on Shakespeare on film which is supported by the GW Humanities Center. This is an entry level position, and all training will be provided. However, English or humanities majors are preferred.
Tasks may include: formatting and providing uniformity to manuscripts, creating an index for a book, collecting data and compiling an annotated bibliography. Student may also help provide information for literature reviews and draft summaries. Other duties may be assigned related to specific faculty needs.
To apply, email Prof Joubin (ajoubin@gwu.edu) with
Federal Work-Study (FWS) Program award letter (statement)
Resume
Transcript
Cover letter

Awesome Research Opportunity — Institute for Data, Democracy, and Politics

Openings and Opportunities, Research Assistant Opportunity

Professor: Imani Cheers

Department: SMPA

Research Title: “It Takes a Village: The Basics of Boyhood and Methods for Manhood”

Description: “It Takes A Village: Basics of Boyhood and Messages for Manhood” is an interdisciplinary qualitative multimedia research project that examines the passionate and purposeful images of Black men seen in mainstream social media platforms, Instagram, Tik Tok and YouTube. This project is specifically interested in examining how social media impacts the public and mental health of both content creators and the broader Black community. Using the qualitative research methodology and theoretical framework, photovoice, “It Takes A Village” is titled after the African proverb that acknowledges the importance of family and community in raising and rearing children.

At the core of “It Takes A Village” is a commitment to providing the broader public, mainstream journalists and policymakers an understanding of digital media’s influence on public dialogue and opinion surrounding the holistic representation of Black men as boys, men, friends, fathers and partners.

Research Assistant Duties: We are looking for a detailed orientated student interested in data analysis and social media content creation to assist with a project with the Institute for Data, Democracy and Politics. Students would be responsible for conducting research about Black masculinity, writing articles and managing social media accounts.

Number of openings: 2

Average weekly time commitment: 5-7 hours

Credit hour option*: 3 credits

Submit Resume/Cover Letter to: Professor Cheers (imanimcheers@gwu.edu)

*If seeking academic credit, you must complete an Honors Contract.

Teacher/Counselor Paid Internship (Non-Profit/Summer)

Job/Internship Opportunity, Openings and Opportunities

Teacher/Counselor Paid Internship (Non-Profit/Summer)

Yleana Leadership Foundation

The Yleana Leadership Foundation, a 501(c)(3) registered non-profit, is seeking Teacher/Counselors for its residential summer academies. Our two summer programs, the Yleana Leadership Academy (YLA) and the Socratic Summer Academy (SSA), serve the Foundation’s mission of creating exceptional educational experiences for young people of all income-levels and preparing our students for success as people and professionals, while decreasing the opportunity gap.

 

The Yleana Leadership Academy takes pride in serving rising high school seniors, the majority of whom are low-income first generation students of color from underserved urban areas. To get a feel for the YLA experience, check out this video: https://youtu.be/_yi3UCFoUuE.

 

The Socratic Summer Academy serves students of all ages and locations. Funds generated through SSA go towards providing scholarships for students to attend YLA. To learn more about SSA, visit our website at http://www.socraticsummeracademy.com. Our staff, pending summer 2021 decisions, may teach at both programs and interact with both groups of students.

 

Our staff are people who are constantly generating new and better ways to do things, drawing on what they have seen, read, and experienced, who replace “I can’t do that” with “Let’s make it happen.” We prefer instructors who can improvise, who are creative, who approach problems in unexpected ways, and who generally understand how to communicate the test to diverse groups of students.

 

Since 2016, our average score improvement in a 3-week period topped out at 200 points on the SAT® exam. We want your help to make that number even higher.

 

We are currently in the process of determining whether we safely can host our programs in-person for summer 2021 and are considering virtual, in-person, and hybrid options. In the case that we are required to do virtual programs, the job responsibilities and stipend may change. 

 

What you’ll be doing:

  • Lead classes of 6-10 students on Critical Reading, Writing, and/or Math according to set strategies
  • Facilitate open, small-group discussions on topics such as race, class, and gender as part of our Issues curriculum
  • Engage students in breakout sessions during our Design Thinking/Entrepreneurship class – which culminates in a camp-wide Shark Tank competition
  • Lead students in after-class programs, games, and activities
  • Other responsibilities as needed

 

The Teacher/Counselor intern will serve as a teacher and a camp counselor. If you have the brain of a scholar and the heart of a camp counselor, this is your dream job.

 

We’d love to hear from you if you:

  • Are currently enrolled in an undergraduate program (required) or have a BA/BS
  • Are able to achieve a minimum score of 670 verbal/670 math on internal hiring assessment (required)
  • Have prior tutoring/teaching experience (highly preferred)
  • Have prior camp experience (highly preferred)
  • Are an outstanding teammate
  • Quickly adapt to unforeseen problems
  • Love serving as a mentor/role model to diverse high school students
  • Exude empathy, patience, and compassion for our students
  • Are detail oriented and results-driven
  • Can relate to our students, who are from historically marginalized communities and often the first in their families to go to college
  • Are highly motivated to help our students succeed in graduating high school and matriculating to college

 

Compensation

Stipends for summer 2021 range from $2,000-4,500. These are determined and offered based on:

  • Degrees and/or current year in school
  • Prior camp, teaching and/or tutoring experience
  • Whether camp is online or in-person

All summer staff receive full room and board for the duration of camp (if in person). If we are unable to hold in-person programs, the stipends may be slightly reduced commensurate with the reduced work hours/responsibilities.

 

Camp 2021 & Covid-19

Camp will tentatively run from June 9 to August 9, 2021 (this includes training); staff must be available for the entire time. These are our current tentative dates:

 

  • Staff training: June 9 – June 24
  • Session 1: June 25 – July 17
  • Session 2: July 19 – August 9
  • Follow-up Program: August 19, 21, 24, 26
    • We will prioritize your application if you are available to teach at our Follow-up Program after the summer program. Pay is $20/hour, and is in addition to the base stipend.

 

If we are able to safely host camp in-person, we will be in-person at Mount Holyoke College and/or Colgate University. Current possibilities for summer 2021 include:

  • 2 online sessions
  • 2 in-person sessions
  • 1 online and 1 in-person session
  • A hybrid model with both online and in-person components

We will update applicants and staff members as soon as more information becomes available. Read our Covid-19 policy here.

 

To apply, please fill out our hiring form here: http://bit.ly/basicinfo2021

The priority application deadline is April 1, 2021. We hire on a rolling basis, so the earlier you apply, the better.

 

Diversity and equal opportunity are at the core of Yleana and our mission. We are committed to building a team that reflects the world. People who identify as members of historically underrepresented groups are highly encouraged to apply.

Teacher/Mental Wellness Counselor Paid Fellowship (Non-Profit/Summer)

Job/Internship Opportunity, Openings and Opportunities

Teacher/Mental Wellness Counselor Paid Fellowship (Non-Profit/Summer)

Yleana Leadership Foundation

The Yleana Leadership Foundation, a 501(c)(3) registered non-profit, is seeking a Teacher/Mental Wellness Counselor for its residential summer academies. Our two summer programs, the Socratic Summer Academy (SSA) and the Yleana Leadership Academy (YLA), serve the Foundation’s mission of creating exceptional educational experiences for young people of all income-levels and preparing our students for success as people and professionals, while decreasing the opportunity gap.

 

The Yleana Leadership Academy takes pride in serving rising high school seniors, the majority of whom are low-income first generation students of color from underserved urban areas. To get a feel for the YLA experience, check out this video: https://youtu.be/_yi3UCFoUuE.

 

The Socratic Summer Academy serves students of all ages and locations. Funds generated through SSA go towards providing scholarships for students to attend YLA. To learn more about SSA, visit our website at http://www.socraticsummeracademy.com. Our staff, pending summer 2021 decisions, may teach at both programs and interact with both groups of students.

 

Our staff are people who are constantly generating new and better ways to do things, drawing on what they have seen, read, and experienced, who replace “I can’t do that” with “Let’s make it happen.” We prefer instructors who can improvise, who are creative, who approach problems in unexpected ways, and who generally understand how to communicate the test to diverse groups of students.

 

Since 2016, our average score improvement in a 3-week period topped out at 200 points on the SAT® exam. We want your help to make that number even higher.

 

We are currently in the process of determining whether we safely can host our programs in-person for summer 2021 and are considering virtual, in-person, and hybrid options. In the case that we are required to do virtual programs, the job responsibilities and stipend may change. 

What you’ll be doing:

  • Lead classes of 6-10 students on Critical Reading, Writing, and/or Math according to set strategies
  • Facilitate open, small-group discussions on topics such as race, class, and gender as part of our Issues curriculum
  • Engage students in breakout sessions during our Entrepreneurship class – which culminates in a camp-wide Shark Tank competition
  • Lead students in after-class programs, games, and activities
  • Mediate disputes between students as needed
  • Provide mental wellness support for students to ensure their well-being and happiness
  • Identify students in need of support and create a sustainable plan for their mental wellness while they are at camp
  • Update senior staff when conflicts arise and once conflicts are resolved
  • Advise staff on standard methodologies for communicating with students
  • Other responsibilities as needed

 

In this role you would be critical to the success of camp and the happiness of your students and coworkers. Supporting students’ mental wellness at a sleepaway camp can require hard work and balancing responsibilities, but if you have a passion for building an inclusive environment where our students can thrive, this might be your dream job.

 

We’d love to hear from you if you:

  • Required qualifications:
    • Have completed a BA/BS degree by Spring of 2021 in psychology or a related field
    • Have experience providing mental health support to high school students
    • Can achieve a minimum score of 670 verbal/670 math on internal hiring assessment
  • Have or in the progress of obtaining a Master’s in counseling/social work or a related field (highly preferred)
  • Have 1-2 years’ relevant tutoring/teaching experience (highly preferred)
  • Are an outstanding teammate
  • Quickly adapt to unforeseen problems
  • Love serving as a mentor/role model to diverse students
  • Exude empathy, patience, and compassion for our students
  • Are detail oriented and results-driven
  • Have a passion for helping students from historically marginalized communities succeed in graduating high school and matriculating to college

 

Compensation

Stipends for Teacher/Mental Wellness Counselors range from $3,000-4,500. These are determined and offered based on:

  • Degrees and/or current year in school
  • Prior camp, teaching and/or tutoring, and mental wellness/counseling experience
  • Whether camp is online or in-person

All summer staff receive full room and board for the duration of camp (if in person). If we are unable to hold in-person programs, the stipends may be slightly reduced commensurate with the reduced work hours/responsibilities.

 

Camp 2021 & Covid-19

Camp will tentatively run from June 9 to August 9, 2021 (this includes training); staff must be available for the entire time. These are our current tentative dates:

 

  • Staff training: June 9 – June 24
  • Session 1: June 25 – July 17
  • Session 2: July 19 – August 9
  • Follow-up Program: August 19, 21, 24, 26
    • We will prioritize your application if you are available to teach at our Follow-up Program after the summer program. Pay is $20/hour, and is in addition to the base stipend.

 

If we are able to safely host camp in-person, we will be in-person at Mount Holyoke College and/or Colgate University. Current possibilities for summer 2021 include:

  • 2 online sessions
  • 2 in-person sessions
  • 1 online and 1 in-person session
  • A hybrid model with both online and in-person components

We will update applicants and staff members as soon as more information becomes available. Read our Covid-19 policy here.

 

To apply, please fill out our hiring form here: http://bit.ly/basicinfo2021

The priority application deadline is April 1, 2021. We hire on a rolling basis, so the earlier you apply, the better.

 

Diversity and equal opportunity are at the core of Yleana and our mission. We are committed to building a team that reflects the world. People who identify as members of historically underrepresented groups are highly encouraged to apply.

Operations and Marketing Paid Internship (Non-Profit/Summer)

Job/Internship Opportunity, Openings and Opportunities

Operations and Marketing Paid Internship (Non-Profit/Summer)

Yleana Leadership Foundation

The Yleana Leadership Foundation, a 501(c)(3) registered non-profit, is seeking an Operations and Marketing Intern for its residential summer academies. Our two summer programs, the Socratic Summer Academy (SSA) and the Yleana Leadership Academy (YLA), serve the Foundation’s mission of creating exceptional educational experiences for young people of all income-levels and preparing our students for success as people and professionals, while decreasing the opportunity gap.

 

The Yleana Leadership Academy takes pride in serving rising high school seniors, the majority of whom are low-income first generation students of color from underserved urban areas. To get a feel for the YLA experience, check out this video: https://youtu.be/_yi3UCFoUuE.

 

The Socratic Summer Academy serves students of all ages and locations. Funds generated through SSA go towards providing scholarships for students to attend YLA. To learn more about SSA, visit our website at http://www.socraticsummeracademy.com. Our staff, pending summer 2021 decisions, may teach at both programs and interact with both groups of students.

 

Our staff are people who are constantly generating new and better ways to do things, drawing on what they have seen, read, and experienced, who replace “I can’t do that” with “Let’s make it happen.” We prefer instructors who can improvise, who are creative, who approach problems in unexpected ways, and who generally understand how to communicate the test to diverse groups of students.

 

Since 2016, our average score improvement in a 3-week period topped out at 200 points on the SAT® exam. We want your help to make that number even higher.

 

We are currently in the process of determining whether we safely can host our programs in-person for summer 2021 and are considering virtual, in-person, and hybrid options. In the case that we are required to do virtual programs, the job responsibilities and stipend may change. 

What you’ll be doing:

If in-person:

  • Keep stock of office and classroom supplies and restock materials as needed
  • Liaise with university contacts on a variety of tasks including organizing camper information, arranging classroom and dorm room assignments, and handling maintenance requests as necessary
  • Plan signature events such as our entrepreneurship fair and end-of-camp banquets
  • Maintain a detailed calendar of daily classes and events
  • Process student tests with our automated grading system and prepare test reports based on the results
  • Help organize logistics for follow-up program
  • Maintain social media accounts and marketing campaigns for the summer
  • Other responsibilities as needed

 

If online:

  • General troubleshooting for SSA and Yleana
  • Help get materials distributed/delivered to students (watches, pencils, printed materials, etc.)
  • Organize classrooms (creating Google classrooms for all classes, managing Zoom/video conferencing, sending out links for classes, etc.)
  • Help make student schedules
  • Monitor slack, emails, SMSs and reporting to necessary staff regarding student/parent communications related to absences, tardiness, etc.
  • Manage full-group Enrichment Zoom meetings
    • Assigning students and teachers to breakout rooms
  • Lead an Issues class
    • Facilitate open, small-group discussions on topics such as race, class, and gender as part of our Issues curriculum
    • Coach an academic coaching group, in conjunction with a teacher, during Issues class times
  • Serve as the staff lead of an Entrepreneurship student group
    • Engage students in breakout sessions during our Entrepreneurship class – which culminates in a camp-wide Shark Tank competition
  • Staff activities/events/provide coverage as needed
  • Other responsibilities as needed

 

The Operations and Marketing intern helps ensure that camp runs smoothly, and will assist the Operations staff during camp. If you are interested in pursuing nonprofit management, logistics, event planning and/or marketing, this may be your dream job.

We’d love to hear from you if you:

  • Are currently enrolled in an undergraduate program (required)
  • Are able to achieve a minimum score of 650 verbal/650 math on internal hiring assessment (required)
  • Have a valid driver’s license (highly preferred)
  • Have experience with Google Drive apps, including Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Gmail (highly preferred)
  • Have experience with social media marketing (highly preferred)
  • Are a multi-tasker and self-starter
  • Are consistently well-organized, detail oriented, and results-driven
  • Have excellent written and spoken communication
  • Anticipate and solve problems before they happen
  • Are an outstanding teammate
  • Quickly adapt to unforeseen problems
  • Enjoy serving as a mentor/role model to diverse high school students
  • Exude empathy, patience, and compassion for our students
  • Have a passion for helping students from historically marginalized communities succeed in graduating high school and matriculating to college

 

Compensation

The stipend for the Operations Intern will  begin at $2,000 but may be subject to change based on:

  • Degrees and/or current year in school
  • Prior camp, operations and/or marketing experience
  • Whether camp is online or in-person

All summer staff receive full room and board for the duration of camp (if in person). If we are unable to hold in-person programs, the stipends may be slightly reduced commensurate with the reduced work hours/responsibilities.

 

Camp 2021 & Covid-19

Camp will tentatively run from June 9 to August 9, 2021 (this includes training); staff must be available for the entire time. These are our current tentative dates:

 

  • Staff training: June 9 – June 24
  • Session 1: June 25 – July 17
  • Session 2: July 19 – August 9
  • Follow-up Program: August 19, 21, 24, 26
    • We will prioritize your application if you are available to teach at our Follow-up Program after the summer program. Pay is $20/hour, and is in addition to the base stipend.

 

If we are able to safely host camp in-person, we will be in-person at Mount Holyoke College and/or Colgate University. Current possibilities for summer 2021 include:

  • 2 online sessions
  • 2 in-person sessions
  • 1 online and 1 in-person session
  • A hybrid model with both online and in-person components

We will update applicants and staff members as soon as more information becomes available. Read our Covid-19 policy here.

 

To apply, please fill out our hiring form here: http://bit.ly/basicinfo2021

The priority application deadline is April 1, 2021. We hire on a rolling basis, so the earlier you apply, the better.

 

Diversity and equal opportunity are at the core of Yleana and our mission. We are committed to building a team that reflects the world. People who identify as members of historically underrepresented groups are highly encouraged to apply.

How UHP Students Are Working to Reform Sex Education

Research Stories

Check out fellow UHPer Tim Steves’ discussion of his work with students in the UHP and WLP on researching sex education with Professor Carly Jordan!

My name is Tim Steves, and I am a sophomore in the University Honors Program. Over the course of the last eleven months, I have been working alongside other members of the UHP as well as the Women’s Leadership Program on a project called RESET: Research for Equality in Sexuality Education and Texts. Under the guidance of Dr. Carly Jordan, biology professor for UHP and WLP, our team has been analyzing the most popular North American sexuality education texts for instances of sexism, heteronormativity, conflation of sex and gender, cultural representation, and misinformation. The goal of RESET is to expose the inadequacies and inequalities across these educational texts, advocating for a future of inclusive and free educational materials for all regarding our bodies and minds. Through research publications, conference presentations, and communication with publishers, we seek to put pressure on the authors of these texts to provide more inclusive and accurate information, raising the bar for sex education.

I first met Dr. Jordan during my fall semester of first year. When browsing through the wide array of unique courses provided by the UHP to fulfill my Scientific Reasoning and Discovery requirements, Dr. Jordan’s Human Reproduction course caught my attention. On a whim, I decided to register for this course, acknowledging that my past experience with sex education from a public high school in Illinois had likely left some gaps in information. Dr. Jordan’s fantastic teaching and vocal efforts to be inclusive of all bodies and minds exposed to me for the first time how far-reaching and prevalent inequality in sex education across the United States really is. Dr. Jordan would frequently edit the texts that she distributed to us prior to our reading to ensure that they would be inclusive, and she would often challenge us to learn to recognize instances where the materials were failing to uphold an inclusive standard. I would highly recommend taking this course to any freshmen who have the opportunity.

RESET began with an email from Dr. Jordan in early March of 2020, inviting several students from her Human Reproduction class and the WLP to come to her classroom on the Vern for pizza and discussion of a research opportunity. Today, this cross-program research team is making progress in the massive task of transforming the sex education landscape. Having completed the data collection phase, many members are now in the process of drafting manuscripts for publication. 

I have been working alongside Gaia Norman from the WLP, focusing on the conflation of sex and gender in these texts. On February 11th, we presented our findings at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology research conference with over 4,500 attendees. Although the conference was supposed to be in person in Austin, Texas, the online format went incredibly smoothly, allowing us to interact with researchers and experts in gender from universities across the country. Analyzing the anatomy chapters of 7 current textbooks, we sought to quantify how often sex and gender are conflated in sexuality education materials. To collect this data, we defined two codes: C (conflated sex and gender) and U (unnecessarily gendered language). Our C code is for instances where the author used gendered language (e.g. man/woman) to define or discuss biological traits, associating an anatomical feature with a specific gender identity and treating sex and gender as one interchangeable concept. Our U code is for times when the author used gendered language to describe information that pertains to all people, regardless of gender identity. Using these codes, we found that textbooks misrepresented sex and gender an average of 136 times per anatomy chapter, and in 90% of these instances, sex and gender were overtly conflated. 

Overall, the experience of sharing our data with the public for the first time was incredibly rewarding. This event felt like a launching point for RESET, and we are expecting to see multiple publications from the team across academic journals regarding various issues with inequality in sex education in the coming months. Keep an eye out for more RESET related content from the UHP as we continue to work toward a more inclusive future of education and be sure to check out the many honors research assistantship opportunities available through the UHP website. 

Paid Summer Research Programs: NSF, NASA, NIH, etc.

Job/Internship Opportunity

Check out the following from Professor Kung!

Looking for a *paid* STEM summer research program at a college, university or national lab? Below is a handy list which also includes science media/journalism/policy-focused fellowships. Lots of opportunities for pre-meds and engineers, too.

https://pathwaystoscience.org/programs.aspx?u=Undergrads_Undergraduate+Students&sm=&sd=&sy=&dd=SummerResearch_Summer+Research+Opportunity&submit=y&dhub=SummerResearch_Summer+Research+Opportunity

Student Advocacy Internship Program

Job/Internship Opportunity

Yleana Leadership Foundation: Student Advocacy Program

Non-profit | Spring | Unpaid | Remote | Part-time

The Yleana Leadership Foundation, a 501(c)(3) registered nonprofit organization based in New York, seeks motivated college students for its Yleana Student Advocacy Program during the upcoming Spring 2021 semester. The Yleana Leadership Foundation creates exceptional educational experiences for young people of all income levels: preparing our students for success as people and professionals while decreasing the achievement gap. 

About Yleana Leadership Foundation:

  • Yleana Leadership Foundation is committed to closing the achievement gap for underrepresented students from underserved communities. 
  • We have served over 1,000 underrepresented students since 2013.
  • Our college access programs focus on academic and professional mentoring, elite test preparation, entrepreneurship training, college application advising and mentoring, distance learning, and the Yleana Leadership Academy: a free 3 week-long immersion program during the summer held directly on college campuses.
  • All of our programs are completely free for our students and employ culturally competent messaging that is both motivational and trauma-informed.

There are 6 available divisions of the Yleana Student Advocacy Program to join. These internships are remote, unpaid, and have the option to extend (many of our interns choose to stay on for several semesters.) Interns have a high level of freedom and flexibility, so we’re always looking for self-starters who can function well with minimal supervision. This is an excellent program for students looking to gain real experience in various job functions while serving an amazing mission.

Please select which position(s) you are interested in when filling out the application.

Position Details:

  • Team members will be expected to work with us and learn for approximately 10 hours per week; work schedules are flexible and will be determined with the Yleana Student Advocacy Executive Board and your teams.
  • Team members will commit to helping raise funds for the Yleana Leadership Foundation.
  • The position will run from January 19th, 2021, to May 15th, 2021.
  • Team members will work remotely with the use of Zoom, Slack, and Google Suite.

 

To apply, please fill out this Google Form: bit.ly/ylf-student-advocates.

 

The priority application deadline is January 3, 2021. Our Executive Board and staff interview potential candidates on a rolling basis, so the earlier you apply, the better. Availability is limited, and we do not expect to accept applications after that date due to volume.

 

Diversity and equal opportunity are at the core of the Yleana Leadership Foundation and our mission. We are committed to building a team that reflects the world. People who identify as members of historically underrepresented groups are highly encouraged to apply.

 

Please email us at workwithus@yleana.org with questions. Thank you for your interest in Yleana Leadership Foundation! 

 

Challenges of Virtual Learning – Call for Input

Community Life, Research Stories, Student Voices

Hello all!

Honors program seniors Alex Gunnerson and Krista Nolan are working on a capstone project for their Geography senior seminar about the challenges of virtual learning. As part of this project, they are collecting anonymous survey responses from other GW students to study the geographic distribution of how virtual learning has impacted GW students across the world. They hope that this survey can be utilized by students and the GW administration to understand the unique challenges that students faced this semester to better prepare for the Spring.

Please find the survey here:

Thank you for your help!

#HonorsProblems: How to Curb that Impostor Syndrome and Embrace Your Awesome

Student Peer Advisors, Student Voices

Check out Peer Advisor Abby Guen’s tips on how to counteract impostor syndrome in your academics!

Let’s face it: this semester has been hard. This isn’t what any of us envisioned, and for those of you who are freshmen, this surely isn’t how you envisioned your introduction into college. I hope you’ve fallen into the swing of things with a little over 2 months under your belt, and while the hours staring at a screen may not be getting easier (in fact, they may be getting harder), you have made it this far and that is enough.

Speaking of being enough, let’s talk about something I’ve suffered from all throughout college: academic impostor syndrome. If you’re not familiar with the term, Harvard Business Review defines impostor syndrome as a collection of feelings of inadequacy that persist despite evident success. As a freshman and sophomore in the Elliott School, I felt this in my classes all the time – why didn’t I know the answers to any of the questions being asked during class? Why did it feel like my comments weren’t as insightful as other students? Was I not spending enough time outside of class reading up on general topics in international affairs? As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that asking such broad questions of myself isn’t productive, and that there are several things I should keep in mind when inadvertently comparing myself to other students. Next time you’re feeling inadequate, think about these things:

You got into GW. You got into the Honors Program. You are more than smart enough to be here. I hope this is a given. You are going to take classes in many different departments while you’re at GW, and there is simply no way you will be well-informed about the subject matter for all of them. You will respond differently to each class’s material, each professor’s teaching style, and what’s going on in your life outside of your classes is constantly changing. Everyone’s definitions of success vary, and if you’re feeling inadequate, consider what you might be struggling with in your life, and how your ability to overcome it is just as important as your performance in school.

Everyone’s brains work differently. This is a big one for me. I had a propensity – especially in my origins classes – to think that if someone said something about a reading that I would never have thought of, it meant that I had missed something big. I also felt like my contributions didn’t sound as insightful as other students. Everyone’s brain processes literature differently, and we each prioritize information in distinct ways. Not seeing all the perspectives right away doesn’t immediately mean you missed something. What is obvious to one person’s brain might not have been obvious to you, and vice versa. It’s likely that someone will hear your contributions and think they was quite insightful, and that they had never thought about it that way. If you’re ever feeling lost in class, I can guarantee that you’re not the only one.

Knowledge does come with age, to an extent. Some people are naturally good at remembering things, or have great confidence speaking in class. Some people may also have a special interest in the subject matter being studied by your class, and therefore their knowledge may in fact be larger than yours (the example that comes to my mind is when I took History of American Foreign Policy as a sophomore and knew almost nothing about the Middle East or US military history, but half the class were ROTC students.) As a senior now, I feel much more confident in my knowledge and my reading abilities then I did even two years ago, when I was still a very capable student. Your knowledge and ability to synthesize information both improve as you move through college, and it is natural for impostor syndrome to feel like a big deal when you’re just starting out. Just know it gets better with time, and keep reminding yourself that you are awesome!

One final thing: remember there are many ways to showcase your capabilities. Class participation can come in form of emailing your professors after class to clarify something or talk about a topic that interested you, or going to office hours. In classes you really love, find ways to go above and beyond what is asked of you. But don’t stress if you’re not ready for any of that. You have time, and if 2020 has taught us anything it’s the importance of taking care of ourselves. You’ve shown resilience just by making it this far in the semester, but if you’re feeling inadequate at any point, your UHP family will always be here to remind you that you’re awesome.

 

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