Scholar Success Story: How a Young Scholar Became a Climate Advocate

Key Points

• A high school student from Singapore was passionate about environmental science and sociology but lacked suitable mentorship and college-level research experience.

• We matched her with a Faculty Advisor specializing in environmental sociology, who helped her shape her research project.

• Over the course of the program, she learned about academic writing, literature reviews, and research methodology, and developed a full research paper.

• Her story demonstrates that even without in-school support, a motivated student with the right mentorship can turn their environmental interests into serious academic work and real-world outcomes.

“She is an outstanding student and already possesses all of the skills required to succeed in college.” That was the high praise lauded on this month’s successful scholar upon the completion of her research program. Student C’s Faculty Advisor was thoroughly impressed with her work ethic, and her case study is an excellent example of two things: how much a student can achieve with the appropriate guidance and the value of Scholar Launch’s education team, which ensures each student gets to work with an esteemed FA whose expertise aligns with their academic interests. 

We first met Student C as a high school sophomore from an international school in Singapore. Generally interested in environmental science and environmental sociology, she strove to expand the horizons of her capstone project by participating in advanced research that combined her interests with research topics like climate change, climate justice, and colonialism.[1] However, Student C struggled to find a compatible advisor or mentor whose expertise aligned with her field of study. She also lacked any real experience with university-level academic writing. Despite these challenges, she eventually produced a phenomenal research project that helped her earn acceptance letters from top schools, including Ivy League universities, around the world.

To get started, we matched Student C with a Faculty Advisor who worked as an Assistant Professor at Rutgers University. The FA’s expertise, which lay at the intersection of environmental sociology, global and transnational studies, and political ecology, perfectly aligned with her goals. Student C worked closely with this FA and her Teaching Assistant to narrow her broad interests into a fully developed research topic. After articulating her vision and refining the questions she sought to answer, she decided to focus on grassroots climate movements, environmental memory, and landscapes lost to ecological destruction.[2]

During her time spent in the research program, Student C’s TA guided her through the many nuances of academic writing. She learned how to conduct a literature review, cite credible sources, and structure a scholarly article by crafting a detailed outline and formulating a research plan to stay on track. In the meantime, her FA directed her to helpful literature in environmental sociology and the humanities to connect her with relevant frameworks and provided in-depth feedback on the clarity of her arguments. During her time with us, Student C learned to hone her research methodology skills in a variety of ways, from improving her framework, writing style, and the clarity of her explanations to sharpening the details of formatting, word choice, and grammar.

She ultimately completed her research program with a strong, comprehensive, and published final paper, titled “Singapore’s Grassroots Environmental Movement: Modes of Representation in the Garden City”, which her Faculty Advisor praised as “so well written”.[3] She also earned a shining letter of recommendation, which she used in her college applications. And her applications took her far: Student C received acceptance letters from top schools in the U.S. and the U.K., including Oxford, Yale, Princeton, the University of Bristol, the University of Chicago, and more. This Scholar Success Story is a testimony to what’s possible when top-performing students fortify their academic profiles with strong extracurricular activities that help them stand out among their peers in college admissions. 

To learn how participating in an advanced research program could help you or your student reach lofty academic goals, contact us.

Sources

[1] Lockie, S. (2015). What is environmental sociology? Environmental Sociology, 1(3), 139–142. https://doi.org/10.1080/23251042.2015.1066084

[2] Auge, G., Hankofer, V., Groth, M., Antoniou-Kourounioti, R., Ratikainen, I., & Lampei, C. (2023). Plant environmental memory: Implications, mechanisms and opportunities for plant scientists and beyond. AoB PLANTS. https://doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/plad032 (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

[3] Prasetya, C., & Falzon, D. (2023). Singapore’s Grassroots Environmental Movement: Modes of Representation in the Garden City. Journal of Student Research, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v12i1.4384