Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
This project is a critical analysis of the works of 6 American war veterans and how they demonstrate trauma in their narratives. The texts covered here are Philip Red Eagle’s Red Earth (2007), John A. Williams’ Captain Blackman (1972), Roy Scranton’s War Porn (2016), Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried (1990), Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), and Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 (1961).
The United States is an empire. It was founded as such and continues to be one to this day. However, during the most prominent periods of imperial expansion, anti-imperialist organizations and politicians often rise up to oppose these further imperialist actions. This thesis paper examines the rhetoric used by these organizations and politicians, particularly through their speeches and platforms. The primary focus is on the role of American exceptionalism in this rhetoric, and what American anti-imperialism not rooted in this concept looks like. This analysis will be done by looking at a few key specific texts from these organizations and politicians, including (but not limited to) the platform of the Anti-Imperialist League and the speech Representative Barbara Lee gave to explain her lone no vote on the Authorization for Use of Military Force in Afghanistan in 2001.
Allow yourself to rediscover peace. PAX is aimed to help college students find pockets of peace in their hectic day-to-day. Through art services, students will find avenues to relieve stress and anxiety via creative outlets. With directed art sessions, students will be able to express their creativity in a healthy and healing manner. Our vision is to introduce and instill a stress relieving outlet in the lives of college students.
Honored Brow is a local, non-profit, start-up business that specializes in brow lamination and lash lifts with tinting services. The business is founded and operated by four students enrolled in Arizona State University, Barrett, The Honors College. Honored Brow’s mission, through the thesis project, is to connect and provide brow and lash services to enhance natural beauty and empower women. This project was completed as part of Founders Lab.
Mink Social is a startup aimed at providing podcasters with a suite of tools to help them edit and market their content on social media. The company aims to solve the niche problem and difficulties podcasters face when promoting their long-form audio content online. Mink Social's unique solution involves automating the backend work of editing and repurposing content into easy-to-market clips. The company's business model targets three distinct market segments: entry-level podcasters, established podcasters, and enterprise podcasting. Mink Social's competitive advantage is that it is the first social media promotion and editing platform exclusively for podcasts.
Throughout the Barrett, the Honors College Thesis process we were tasked with creating our own entrepreneurial startup venture. Our objective was to mock up and develop a holistic fitness application that businesses can use to motivate their employees to adopt healthy habits while increasing productivity. We were able to reach out and connect with local businesses about the prospect of using our application. In addition, we included a reward system that companies can use for health experiences, such as a percentage off rock climbing or a discounted round of golf. This aided us in gaining valuable insights into who our potential clients could be and helped us narrow down our target market. We implemented a ring system in our application where employees would fulfill daily goals of physical health, mental health, sleep, and nutrition. The rings start dark red and gradient towards green as the client accomplishes their goals. The BeFit. app had separate tabs for personal health statistics, leaderboards, rewards, and intramurals that could be played against other companies. Our prototype utilizes all of these features with the goal of companies’ ability to increase their employees’ cognitive function and team morale in the workplace.
Allow yourself to rediscover peace. PAX is aimed to help college students find pockets of peace in their hectic day-to-day. Through art services, students will find avenues to relieve stress and anxiety via creative outlets. With directed art sessions, students will be able to express their creativity in a healthy and healing manner. Our vision is to introduce and instill a stress relieving outlet in the lives of college students.
