Gateway to University Honors

In my first semester of school, I was privileged to take the Gateway to University Honors course with Ms. Amanda Shoemaker. This course was a great and influential introduction to both the college environment and to the honor's program at the University of Cincinnati. I'm very grateful to have had such amazing experiences in this class and to be able to work with other honors students, as well as working introspectively, to propose solutions to real world problems.

Problem Pitch Assignment

Justice System Reform

I worked with a small team of my fellow honors students to research and propose solutions to problems within the justice system. The problem that my group chose to analyze was the prevalence and disparities of non-violent drug arrests and sentencing in the justice system. For example, according to the Drug Policy Alliance, over 1.6 million Americans were incarcerated for drug offenses in 2017, with 85.4% of these being arrests for possession only. Additionally, black, Latino, and indigenous communities are more likely to receive harsher sentencing for non-violent drug crimes.
Our group attempted to reach out to a member of a nonprofit newspaper dealing with incarceration as well as a law professor experienced in handling drug-related law, but both were unavailable for interviews. Our group therefore conducted extensive research into proposed solutions to the high incarceration rates in non-violent drug offenses.

Among many contributing factors, such as decriminalizing marijuana and emphasizing that addicts require help rather than stigma and condemnation, the solution our group found to be most important was for communities to support programs which encourage placing drug offenders into rehabilitation programs rather than lengthy sentences of incarceration. According to the University of Pennsylvania, rehabilitation programs lower the occurrence of reoffending, allowing former drug charge convicts to reenter and contribute to society. It also decreases the amount of people incarcerated, decreasing cost to taxpayers.