Posts created by students in SOC 101 during the Spring 2026 semester.
Trust in the American government is currently at an all time low (PEW 2025). As of 2025, only 17% of Americans say they are confident that the government will do what is right “just about always” (2%) or “most of the time” (15%). Trust among Democrats is especially low: only 9% say they trust the […]
Link to Youtube Video on ICE: https://www.youtube.com/@LiyahKemp-o4k Since returning to office in 2025, President Donald Trump dramatically expanded immigration enforcement efforts by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) which includes carrying out raids, detentions, and deportations. Deportation experts estimated above 400,000 people were detained within the first 250 days of Trump’s second presidency. Prior to Trump’s […]
Facing Struggle & Finding Oneself as a Disadvantaged Student at an Elite College Dedicated to my former gifted teacher, English teacher, and high school counselor Mrs. Harms. Your support and care helped me become someone I am proud to be wherever I am. One fateful March evening, after intense preparation, anxiety, and hope, I was […]
Transphobia – negative attitudes, prejudice, and discrimination towards transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people – has been increasing in the United States (The Economist 2023). It is increasing in popular media, social media, local and national legislation, and in the attitudes of the general population. It is especially visible through the increase in hate crimes […]
Leadership is about hard work. Put in the hours. Make sacrifices. Stay committed. The best will rise. That’s the story. But if leadership were truly based on merit alone, executive offices would look very different. Women have surpassed men in college enrollment and degree attainment and make up a large portion of the professional workforce […]
“Skinni-Tok” is a TikTok trend that promotes extreme thinness as the ideal body type. This is especially harmful to female athletes who are trying to chase an aesthetic that is unrealistic and incompatible with high-level athletic performance. Influencers across social media platforms are creating similar content on health and wellness, documenting everything a person eats […]
Algorithm-driven social media platforms shape perception by enclosing users in personalized content bubbles, where engagement-based recommendations reinforce and amplify exposure to increasingly polarizing information. The morning after the 2026 Super Bowl, the first post on my Instagram feed was a billboard at Bad Bunny’s halftime show performance, captioned “The only thing more powerful than hate […]
The ideal female athlete is incredibly strong, lifts heavy effortlessly, yet remains perfectly lean and toned to avoid looking “too masculine” (Camacho-Miñano and Gray 2021). Mainstream media representations shifted away from the extreme “skinny” ideal of the 2000s, but these new, allegedly healthier standards carry the same toxic weight. They simply promote exercising for appearance […]
While many people credit an influential teacher or parent as a pivotal influence, for me, it was something different. For eighteen years, I grew up alongside Tabby, a scrappy rescue from the South who taught me how to be a better person. She helped me develop empathy and emotional awareness, and even influenced my career […]
I was diagnosed with type one diabetes my freshman year of high school. I was suddenly thrown into a whirlwind of doctors, nurses, and pharmacists teaching me how to keep myself alive. Upon my initial diagnosis I was quite confused; the diabetes my healthcare team described to me was completely different from the sugar-filled, obesity-caused, […]
