Education

Boston College

B.A.: Transformative Educational Studies & Studio Art (Minor: Film Studies)

Program Information

The Transformative Educational Studies major at Boston College (TES) consists of 10 courses: 4 core courses, 1 senior seminar, and 6 major electives. The courses span different areas of formative education (e.g., global perspectives and educational inquiry), curriculum design, justice and equity, and critical analysis of educational systems.

I also double majored in Studio Art, which consists of 10 courses which span from art making (e.g. woodworking, photography) to art history and theory, the art institutions and businesses across the world, and cultural production. I minored in Film Studies, which consisted of six courses spanning film production (e.g., cinematography, sound design) to film critique and media theory.

The Core Curriculum at Boston College consists of 13 mandatory courses, which provide an integrative foundation of interdisciplinary inquiry and expose students to different ways of knowing and being.

See the timeline below for the courses I took during each semester:

Program Timeline

My Journey

Year 1 (Freshman)

I spent most of my freshman year completing Core Curriculum and TES major core courses. The core TES courses embodied the educational philosophy of Cura Personalis (care for the whole person), focusing on learners' holistic development. Electives such as Courage to Know introduced me to the Ignatian framework for learning through engagement and reflection. The year-long course Person and Social Responsibilities was accompanied by a community service component that reflected the value of being men and women for others. Through this course, I taught online math and Spanish lessons for 10 hours weekly to 12 women from Dorchester's Latinx community and developed two semesters of bilingual lesson plans.

Mujeres Unidas Avanzando

Year 2 (Sophomore)

In my sophomore year, I deepened my knowledge in learning design through courses such as Transformative Teaching and Learning, where I created a mission statement for an imagined new school and applied classroom concepts to design elements like the distinctions between charter and public school models. Through my Studio Art and Film courses, I explored the relationship between media literacy (understanding how to read and interpret artifacts) and media production, including the technical aspects of art making. This year, I also began working as a Student Ambassador at the McMullen Museum of Art and as a student employee in the film department equipment room. These positions allowed me to engage with both art viewing (museum learning experiences, informal education, and art consumption) and art making (technical skills for operating audiovisual equipment, projectors, and more).

McMullen Museum of Art

Year 3 (Junior)

I spent most of my junior year in project-based courses focused on art making and educational research. One highlight was The Art of Educational Inquiry, where I explored different approaches to educational research across history, anthropology and philosophy. These disciplines offered alternative frameworks to the traditional psychology-based modes of inquiry grounded in natural science methods. With the support of the Jacques Salmanowitz grant, I also created a documentary on the power of creative art in Argentina, experimenting with film-based research. Beyond coursework, I continued working at the McMullen Museum and the film equipment room. I also began working as a Teaching Assistant in the spring, assisting with the weekly mandatory course Issues & Approaches to Studio Art. In this role, I mentored over 40 Studio Art students by connecting them to campus resources and providing guidance on academic and project-related matters during office hours.

Jacques Salmanowitz Program

Year 4 (Senior)

My senior year was much more relaxed compared to my sophomore and junior years because I had completed nearly all my major and minor requirements for graduation. I spent this year working on my thesis project, which brought together everything I had learned in education, art, and film. My thesis consisted of a 20-minute documentary investigating folk art and the importance of informal learning spaces for achieving culturally grounded pedagogy and intergenerational approaches to cultural production, along with a series of artworks exploring the theme of ecological learning. These were presented as an art installation in the Studio Art department and as a thesis presentation in the TES department. In addition to my coursework, I curated and installed a solo exhibition at Gallery 203, showcasing a series of traditional woodblock prints I created during a summer apprenticeship in my hometown of Guangxi. The exhibition engaged over 200 guests at the opening and artist talk.

More Than a Village Solo Exhibition