Progress has been made.

Today, I got the chance to talk with Mr. Correa about my thesis idea. He seemed interested in it and said that it held a lot of promise, which I'm happy about because I'd really like to use this as my topic. The only thing is, we still have to figure out exactly what I could do for a product. The hard thing is, with a fundraiser, it's already been going on since June, so it's almost like I've been working on my thesis all summer! I've raised over a $1,000 already, but I'm not sure if that would count as a 'product' of some sort. I don't think it does...

The other thing is, the Readathon ends on Halloween, and our final presentations are near the end of the year, in March/April/May. So I have to figure out a different way of continuing to work with Pratham (possibly by fundraising on my own?) in order for this to really work.

I guess I could always just talk about my experience and what I learned from it... (Vineeta already wants me to write an essay about my experience fundraising and how it's influenced me so that she can send it to everyone on the Readathon mailing list or post it on the Pratham USA website as a 'personal account of a Readathon participant' for anyone who'd be interested in reading it.) That doesn't sound like much of a 'product' though. Anywho, I've already emailed Vineeta to ask about possibilities of me continuing to work with Pratham, so we'll see what she says.

In other news, I'm slowly making progress on my college essays! I've been starting a lot of different ones, instead of continuing to work on the few I'd already written, so I feel more productive. (I'm applying to a bunch of schools anyway, so it's a good thing that I've at least got some rough drafts typed up.)

I also went down and met our new registrar; she seems pretty nice! I filled out the clipboard to request official transcripts. I'm going to go and pick those up on Wednesday.

A New Idea

At the end of junior year, back in May, I was considering doing my thesis on Star Trek - specifically, analyzing the relationship between Kirk and Spock and how different elements of the show play into that.

I've decided to do away with that idea, for two main reasons - first because I feel like when I created that idea I was too obsessed with Star Trek and too much into the fangirl side of my life (I've distanced myself from tumblr and fangirling in general now to focus on college apps) to really think about it seriously, and because I'd like to do something more... serious? That's not the exact word I'm looking for, but what I'm trying to say is that I want to do my thesis on something that's more useful or relevant to the world. And besides, I feel like people wouldn't take me seriously if I did my thesis on crazy fangirl stuff. (Most people don't even get it, so my presentations would probably consist of the class staring at me as I stand there and watch literally nobody get my fandom references or understand why Spirk is so important to me.)

Instead, I've decided now to base my thesis off something I've actually been doing. Since this past summer, I've been involved with a not-for-profit organization called Pratham. What Pratham does is host charity events and fundraising initiatives to raise funds and awareness for children in India to help them receive an education. This summer, they had a fundraiser called the Readathon that I participated in. What I did in the Readathon was read books and maintain a webpage, where I would post updates about the books I'd read (usually, I wrote a short summary/review), write short thank you messages to my donors, and just generally update on my progress throughout the fundraiser. The thing is, though, for every book I read, I had to raise a certain amount of money. I had some people do a "rate," where they would donate $10 for every book I read, but ultimately most of my contributions came from people who were interested in supporting me - they'd just donate a set amount (whatever they could afford).

I've been having a great time doing this fundraiser (it's still continuing, so that's another plus in terms of using this idea for thesis) and so far I've been pretty successful - as of now, I've raised $1,162 and there are more donations on the way. I also loved doing this because it feels good to give back to the community and make a difference in the world. Besides, I was able to do that just by doing what I love - reading! It all worked out.

I'm hoping I'll get to use this as my thesis project. The only thing is, I'm not sure exactly how I can do that and what my product would be. But we'll see. I'm honestly looking forward to it, because with this idea, I already have my mentor! I've been working with a lady named Vineeta Salvi; she's the national co-chair of Pratham and I'd say we've gotten to know each other pretty well. We email back and forth frequently and I always contact her if I have any questions or anything. I know for sure that if I get the okay on this idea for thesis, I'll email her and ask if she'd be willing to serve as my mentor. Hopefully she'll say yes!