McNair Scholar 2022 Friday Gora
Friday Gora is a senior at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, majoring in elementary and special education. Her research interests revolve around creating equitable educational experiences for all learners using antiracist frameworks that honors students and families. Ms. Gora plans on getting her Ph. D. in International and Comparative Education.
My dream is to convince every child that I get an opportunity to teach that they are capable of learning and accomplishing their wildest dreams. I want to earn my Ph. D so I can help dismantle systemic barriers that have kept students and their families from reaching their educational hopes and dreams.
Research project
Hopes, Dreams, and Barriers: How Youth Informed Research Can be Utilized to Create Change
Abstract: Research suggests that youth participatory action research (YPAR) has many beneficial outcomes, such as an increase in the youth members ability to advocate for themselves and their communities, agency, leadership, and academic achievement (Bender et al., 2018). Thus, this Midwest suburban high school hired students to work alongside their university facilitators and their Assessment, Research, and Evaluation department to answer the following district question: Are we living up to our communities' hopes and dreams? This ethnographic study observes how youth data analyst (YDA) interns collaborate with stakeholders to create change. Summer programming coaches’ youth to research and advocate for their schools and communities. As facilitators, we university researchers use an ethnographic lens to observe how YDA interns collaborate with stakeholders to create change. The preliminary findings in this ongoing study suggest that youth informed research can be used to spark and continue change initiatives based in race equity.
Faculty mentor
Abigail Rombalski is a lecturer at the University of Minnesota with over twenty years of experience in the field of education. She earned her doctorate degree from the University of Minnesota in Curriculum and Instruction. Dr. Rombalski's research focuses on the literacy of interracial and ani-racist youth activists as well as participatory research within her community. Her passionate work in anti-racism has been recognized and awarded with multiple community engagement awards including the 2020 YoUthROC grant for Youth Participatory Action Research, YouthPrise, and the 2018 Community Outreach and Engagement Award, University of Minnesota CEHD.