Today marks a milestone in my doctoral journey. My Dissertation Proposal is approved!! In August and September, I will begin the last cycle of Action Research for my doctorate in Education: (working title) STEM Focused Leadership and Entrepreneurship at Northeastern University in Curriculum, Teaching, Leading and Learning. STEM students have historically produced content and trained younger community members in Engineering, and Computer Science concepts. In this last year, 12 students led different workshops after school and on the weekends and hosted elementary and middle school students.
In this coming school year, Cycle 2, the last cycle will focus on these high school STEM leaders who are adapting the content to meet the needs of new online learning. They are already leading even in the summer. I am excited to continue this work with them in the Fall, but also to wrap up Cycle 2 in December, so I can move on to writing?!#!
It was nerve-wracking to present the proposal and such a relief to be finished.
But in all, I am excited to go on to finish the journey. Hopefully, my dissertation and research will be complete in June of 2021.
This work has been ongoing since 2014 but in the last two years, it became a focus of Action Research. The high school students have been amazing volunteers willing to do this community outreach to younger learners on top of rigorous STEM coursework. They go on to leverage these experiences in the communities and with start-ups and in other entrepreneurial endeavors. I cannot say enough about these people and how much I enjoy working collaboratively with these youth leaders. Except, I do need to add a big thank you to these leaders who have contributed to my research in this doctoral program. Thank you, thank you, thank you to outreach leaders, supportive staff and administrators and my cohort of other graduate students!
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