Deering High School Graduate Zsofia Duarte Submits Honors Thesis at Bates College

2018 Apr 9

Zsofia Duarte, 2014 graduate of Deering High School has submitted her senior thesis at Bates College.

An environmental studies major and one of the college's Community Engaged Research Fellows, Duarte examined the local food movement as it plays out at the Lewiston farmers market, specifically looking at the experiences of Somali Bantu food producers.

While all Bates seniors complete a thesis or capstone project, a select few - less than 10 percent of the class - are invited to conduct a supercharged version of thesis, the honors thesis. Zsofia was one of them.

An honors thesis is an academic triathlon. It's months of research, often beginning in the junior year; months of writing and revising under the guidance of a faculty adviser; and then the submission and concluding defense, in which a committee of scholars interviews and challenges the thesis conclusions.