Seniors Defend Theses During Masters Thesis Symposium

The seniors in Masters Thesis class worked for months researching topics of their interest and writing a 25-page paper exploring each issue.

The next task was the symposium.

AJ Daniels ’19, Liam Kinsey ‘19 and Thomas West ’19 presented their respective theses at the Masters Thesis Symposium on Tuesday, March 5, at 6:30 PM in the Library Conference Room. The annual event is an opportunity for students in Upper School history teacher Matt Ives' Masters Thesis class to present their theses and respond to questions from the audience. Daniels discussed “‘Everybody has a chapter you don’t read out loud.’ Is this poetry? The Impact of Social Media on Modern Poetry;” Kinsey spoke on “Urbanizing the Suburbs: Mixed Use Planning and the City of the Future;” and West considered “A Civil Gideon: The Importance of the Right to Free Representation in Civil Cases.”

Each student presented his findings during a 10-minute presentation and then took 30 minutes of questions from the audience of more than 25, which included a former parent, Wendy Marder-Lewin P’17 who has a tradition of bringing cookies and other desserts to the annual Masters Thesis Symposium.

Daniels, Kinsey and West will continue exploring their chosen topics. Daniels has been working all year on a video about poetry, focusing on spoken word poetry, and investigating the issues discussed in his paper about the impact of social media, especially Instagram, on the world of poetry. Kinsey is building on his research into mixed-use zoning and public transportation to create virtual digital cities that illustrate his thesis that the future of cities lies in smart growth, mixed-use zoning, walkability and easily accessible public transportation. West will be working with legal aid lawyers, learning more about how access to representation can help low-income people faced with eviction.

The Masters Thesis class, which has traditionally been open only to seniors, will be available to qualified juniors in the 2019-2020 school year. Students who are interested in taking the class next year should reach out to Matthew Ives at matthew.ives@mastersny.org.

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