Elaina Sassine '18 Competes in MIT Research Competition
Congratulations to Elaina Sassine ’18 who earned honorable mention in the women and gender studies category in the final round of the MIT INSPIRE national research competition. MIT INSPIRE is the only national high school research competition in the humanities, arts and social sciences. With nearly 600 total entries, Elaina was one of 105 finalists who was invited to MIT to present her research findings.
Elaina knew she wanted to research feminism, and her mentor and role model, AP English Language teacher Amy Parish, Ph.D., helped talk through topics. Elaina focused her research paper on tensions within feminism, different feminist waves, fallacies and feminist logic, and general issues the movement faces and its effects.“The priorities of feminism, as well as its definition, have changed through time and space,” says Elaina. “I define feminism as the ideological movement that struggles for the equitable treatment of all people, irrespective of their sex or gender identity.”
Her report “The War Within the Sex: Examining Barriers to Solidarity Within the U.S. Feminist Movement,” included data gathered from surveying self-identifying feminists across the country and more than 40 resources, including from journals, news articles and books. Click here to read her abstract.
In March, Elaina learned that she advanced to the final round of the competition as one of 105 finalists nationwide and one of 12 finalists in the field of women and gender studies. Her paper was evaluated by the judges on these criteria:
- Clarity of problem statement and implications to the field
- Originality and creativity
- Analytical depth
- Abstract and report, including good writing style
Elaina was invited to travel to MIT for the final competition. Next steps involved putting together a poster and presentation. In Boston, she presented to judges who included gender studies professors and doctoral students.
About presenting, she shared, “It was stressful—and really fun—stressful because I had so much I wanted to talk about. I only put 25 percent of what I found in my research on my poster. There just wasn’t enough room. They tried to throw me off and asked questions about topics that had nothing to do with my research, but because of my personal experiences or from debating current events and philosophy with my friends, I had no trouble answering. It was great to talk about what you love.”
One of her favorite parts of the trip was spending time with Dr. Parish who luckily was able to fly from Germany, where she was doing research, to Boston to attend the competition for the mentorship workshop.
The experience solidified Elaina’s passion for research. In fact, she uses the structure taught by Dr. Parish in all of her classes. Her research is often arranged in methods and purpose to look streamlined and professional. This experience also helped refine her argumentation about feminism in a way that helps every time she debates.
Looking forward, Elaina will spend the summer taking gender studies and philosophy courses at Georgetown and is looking forward to refining her research, including interviewing feminists in-person.
“Overall, I think there is room to come together on the issues and areas of conflict I presented in my results,” she says. “With compassion and rational discussion, I think that the movement can make more productive progress towards its goals and clear its tarnished name.”
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858-453-3440
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