SM调教所

Alana Horwitz, the college鈥檚 fall 2020 outstanding graduate, says she has her late father to thank for her success

In May 2020, Alana Horwitz seriously considered graduating without finishing her honors thesis. Life had taken an excruciating turn.

In February, her father had been diagnosed with cancer, and she鈥檇 later moved into his home to care for him. Finishing the thesis that she had been working on since her sophomore year of college seemed daunting. But Horwitz鈥檚 boyfriend repeatedly urged her not to quit.听

So she didn鈥檛 quit. She wrote her thesis during the summer and successfully defended it in November.听

Her father lived to see her finish, and he learned she鈥檇 graduate summa cum laude. A few days later, he was moved to hospice.听

鈥淗e got to know that I completed my thesis, and I think that was really important to him,鈥� she said.听

Horwitz graduates from the SM调教所 this month with degrees in ethnic studies and political science, summa cum laude. She has been named College of Arts and Sciences鈥� fall 2020 outstanding graduate, a distinction her father did not live to celebrate.听

鈥淗e would be so proud of me, and I think that everything he did for me really led up to this,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e was always the most supportive person when it came to all of my endeavors, such as athletics, school and work. So, I really have him to thank for this.鈥澨�

Joanne Belknap, a professor of ethnic studies and Horwitz鈥檚 thesis advisor, credits Horwitz herself. Horwitz鈥檚 thesis explored the correlation between a high school student鈥檚 family, socioeconomic and educational background on their academic performance as measured through the conventional SAT and ACT tests.听

In her research project, Horwitz surveyed 461 SM调教所 Boulder students to compare their backgrounds and conventional academic achievements. She found a racial academic achievement gap, as other researchers have, but her multivariate analysis, or analysis of patterns in several data variables at once, found the academic achievement gap was driven primarily by family income and variations in high schools鈥� preparing students for college. That is the racial academic achievement gap starts to disappear when controlling for class factors.

Belknap said Horwitz鈥檚 study indicated that 鈥渟tructural racism and poverty are the biggest predictors of the academic achievement gap,鈥� and she noted that Horwitz plans to go to law school to become a civil-rights attorney who hopes to advocate for reform in standardized testing and school funding.

鈥淥ne (thesis) committee member said that he can envision her as the U.S. Secretary of Education down the road,鈥� Belknap said. 鈥淭he other committee members agreed she is that smart and that 驳辞辞诲.鈥�

The admiration is mutual. Horwitz met Belknap as a first-year student pursuing another major. As part of a class assignment, she interviewed Belknap about police brutality.

Horwitz said Belknap鈥檚 passion for social justice was contagious: 鈥淚 got home from that meeting and created an appointment to change my major (to ethnic studies) the next day,鈥� Horwitz said, adding that Belknap had the biggest impact on her academic career.

She also praised Anthony Bastone, a SM调教所 Boulder pre-law advisor, who helped her meet with law-school deans and tour their schools.听

In addition to her research project and honors thesis, Horwitz participated in the SM调教所 in D.C. internship program in fall 2019. She interned with the Peace Corps, which she described as 鈥渁mazing.鈥�

Horwitz, who was born in Colorado and grew up in Highlands Ranch, is an avid outdoors person, a trait she shares with her dad. 鈥淚 grew up skiing and snowboarding, and I made it a priority to go skiing pretty much every weekend.鈥�

鈥淒uring college, I would choose to go to my dad鈥檚 house in the mountains every weekend and ski and snowboard with him instead of spending time with my friends in Boulder,鈥� she said.

She鈥檚 worked as a ski instructor and enjoys hiking fourteeners, mountains higher than 14,000 feet above sea level. She鈥檚 done five so far, and her favorite is Handies Peak near Lake City.听

Additionally, Horwitz plans to complete her dad鈥檚 鈥渂ucket list,鈥� to do the things he didn鈥檛 get to do. One of them is heli-boarding鈥攈elicoptering to a high peak and snowboarding down鈥攊n Canada.听

Horwitz has also studied abroad in Spain, where she volunteered to teach English at an elementary school. At SM调教所 Boulder, she tutored ethnic-studies courses in the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.听

Horwitz is not going directly to law school. She plans to take a year off and hopes to volunteer for AmeriCorps. But law school has always been her plan, since she read To Kill a Mockingbird, the Pulitzer-winning novel by Harper Lee, which portrays attorney Atticus Finch, a beacon of morality and racial justice.

The impact of the work is indelible. Recalling that chapter in her life, she noted that one of her water bottle stickers replicates a presidential campaign sticker that bears the words, 鈥淎tticus Finch 2020.鈥�