Using existing research on refugee populations in Mexico, theory of change models were created to model a potential early childhood development program for refugee children ages 0-5 in Mexico. The populations taken into consideration were refugees in Mexico from other Latin American countries, refugees migrating through Mexico towards the northern border, and refugees who had crossed/were crossing the border into the United States.

This thesis explores the correlation between demographic factors and gun violence rates in Mohave and Yuma Counties in Arizona from a public health perspective. With the growing recognition of gun violence as a significant public health issue, this research aims to identify specific demographic characteristics that influence rates of gun-related homicides and suicides.

Immediately following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Union (EU) activated the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) for Ukrainian refugees, contrasting with its inaction during the 2015 Syrian crisis. This inconsistency revealed double standards in EU refugee policy. This thesis explores the EU's Othering in its responses to the Syrian and Ukrainian refugee situations, showing how the EU portrays migrants to affirm its identity. While the response to Syrians in 2015 depicted refugees as a threat to European Christian identity, the response to Ukrainians in 2022 showed more solidarity due to shared "Europeanness." Using the TPD as a lens, this thesis exposes the EU's selective refugee protection based on racialized Othering, where more "European" groups receive favorable treatment. Media narratives further emphasize the differences between Syrian and Ukrainian refugees. The thesis calls for the EU to prioritize human rights over restrictive identity notions.

Written comedy is a method of expression that has existed since cultures penned language. Widely recognized as the ‘oldest written joke’, Reuters identifies a Sumerian tablet from 1900 BC that holds one of the first written expressions of comedy: “Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap." From this joke, almost 4,000 years of comedic material has been processed. In a relatively recent phenomenon in the comedic landscape, sketch comedy serves as a tool of reflexive representation, showcasing vignettes of chaos, rooted in the mundane. This Honors Thesis looks to identify not only the core traits of sketch comedy, as its form demands rigorous structure, as well as the core function of sketch comedy as a cultural lens. The expression ‘rules are meant to be broken’ is one of the great boons of sketch comedy’s appeal; a pattern of ‘rule-breaking’ will be explored through a live performance of my own sketch comedy pieces. The written framework of this piece explores form and function as fundamental requirements for effective sketch comedy, and illustrates the innate understanding of the audience to accept chaos, deception, or the perversion of truth as a tool to express comedy. Sketch comedy exists only as a subset of a wider spectrum of comedy, drawing on historical certainties and established foundations that maintain today. The added creative project serves as a proof of concept; a demonstration of the forces of form and function as they exist on stage. Through careful analysis of my own written work, the outlined focus on the ‘true definition’ of sketch comedy will align carefully with my own practiced works.

Out of all of the participants in World War I, the most curious, in my opinion, is Great Britain. With the English Channel guaranteeing a navally superior Britain could guarantee its independence indefinitely, joining a world war does not seem like the obvious move to make. Despite this, on August 4th, 1914 Britain was at war with Germany. In my paper, I will argue that the invasion of Belgium provided the catalyst for a great power conflict due to the institutional, material, and personal realities that set the two nations on a collision course.