Thesis Series, Part Two: Maddy

Katie D.

May 22, 2010 - 5:20 PM

If you've been following my blog, you'll know that I'm almost done with my undergraduate honors thesis. This is the biggest single project of my college career, and something I am immensely proud of

Most of my best friends area also in the Honors College, and are therefore in the process of writing and defending their own theses. I promised a series of blogs about my friends' theses, to give a better feel for what we undergraduate scholars are capable of, and to demonstrate some of the great creativity of my friends. I have now seen five thesis defense presentations, and each time have been incredibly impressed by my friends and their ability to research, write, present, and generally take ownership of a single massive project. I'll be adding more blogs to this series soon, but you can find the first at http://www.isupportuoregon.org/my_duckstory/blog/katie_d/thesis_series_part_one_miles.

This blog is about my friend Maddy G, who wrote her thesis about a project she undertook with two organizations that support survivors of domestic violence. She is a Family and Human Services major, and has applied her study of social work in innovative and incredibly dedicated ways. Here in Eugene, she works with Womenspace, a fabulous organization and resource for women and children who are living with (or have recently left) situations of domestic violence. She also worked with an organization in Malaysia for almost three months, working with the children of women who had been abused as a for-credit internship through the study abroad program at the UO. In addition to doing the work of the two organizations, she also developed the idea of linking the children served by these two organizations through a pen-pal project. Because of her own love of sending and receiving mail, and because of a profound belief in the potential for human connection, she sees this project as a step of healing and reinforced self-esteem for the children.

Her thesis is entitled "Letters Across the Pacific: International Pen-pals for Children who have Experienced Domestic Violence." Her abstract reads:

Domestic violence is a pervasive issue that can have an impact on people in all kinds of relationships. Organizations worldwide are working towards educating their communities and spreading awareness about the issue of domestic violence and its consequences. Children are greatly affected by domestic violence, often as witnesses of abuse. Resilience is a child's ability to cope with their experiences of domestic violence and is contingent on both the innate qualities in a child and external forces that have an impact on them. Solution-focused interventions are a supported method in the human services field for bolstering resilience. A pen-pal correspondence was developed between the youth at two domestic violence agencies in the United States and Malaysia in an attempt to establish a preliminary solution-focused intervention. This project serves as a pilot study for international pen-pals as a resource for bolstering resilience in children that have experienced domestic violence.

Aside from the quality and creativity of her research, it was a joy to be present for her thesis defense because of her profound love and passion for these kids and the principles behind her work. Her presentation was a joy: she included anecdotes about the children she knew at Womenspace and in Malaysia, and relayed some of their reactions the first time they received the letters. She said that the kids in Malaysia decorated their letters with stickers, because they wanted to send a gift for the American children with the letters. She told us about a little girl in Eugene who was so surprised and happy to hear that another child's favorite sport was soccer, just like hers.

I also loved being a part of her huge supporting audience. Some of my peers choose to invite no one to their defense except for their faculty advisors. Some of my friends have had ten or fifteen member audiences, including parents and friends. For some people, each additional person is a source of stress and anxiety: another person who might witness a mistake or cause some lapse in concentration.

Maddy had twenty-five people at her defense. That included not only her family and her college friends, but also several members of one of her classes, and (most moving for me) several of her professors and supervisors from Womenspace. It was a room full of love and support, witnessing her at a wonderful moment of poise and triumph. Not only was her presentation clear and engaging, but the section with questions from her committee members was also a beautiful moment where her knowledge and passion were able to shine.

Maddy's been an amazing friend since freshman year. I am so, so happy to have seen her complete this last huge hurdle of the Honors College requirements left standing between us and graduation. And I loved to think of those kids receiving their mail. The letters will keep going. That fact makes me so very happy for what Maddy was able to accomplish.