Tiffany Patton is one of the many seniors who had to complete two senior seminars in order to graduate with a double major. She completed her first major in the fall and is currently working on her second senior seminar project.
What are your two senior seminar projects?
For English, I studied an arch of Sylvia Plath poetry to suggest, through psychoanalytic reading, that the speaker was engaging in a war with death but, in the end, they threw up a white flag and unite with death.
For Religious Studies I am looking at the role of Christianity as a case study for The Samaritan Women (a national organization, with a house in Baltimore, that provides care to survivors of human trafficking). I want to look at whether religion is helpful in recovering from the traumatic experience of being human trafficked.
Why did you decide to complete English first?
English is more structured because there is a class you go to once a week where religious studies is just meeting with an advisor every now and then. I wanted that structure before I let myself go on a free reign.
I’m more excited about my religious senior sem than my English one. Not that I don’t love Sylvia Plath but I’m looking at a recovery home for survivors of human sex trafficking and I’m considering doing that for a career after I get a masters in counseling.
Are those your final plans after undergrad? To go right to grad school?
I’m taking a year off to actually be able to apply to grad school and be sure that counseling is what I actually want to do before I go pay for it.
Any final tips or suggestions for completing two senior seminar projects?
Pick something you love, because you have to find a way to keep yourself interested in it and motivated for the whole semester.