Originally from rural Missouri, I traveled extensively throughout my undergraduate degree and into early adulthood, earning a B.A. in Philosophy and Anthropology from Indiana University Bloomington’s Honors College. Via these travels, I accumulated professional experience ranging from textbook editing, to freelance writing, to program coordination and development. After witnessing and experiencing impoverished conditions in the U.S. and abroad, I earned my Master’s in Social Work, focusing my research interests on poverty, inequities in higher education and these conditions’ effect on social mobility. Specifically, my Master’s thesis focused on food insecurity in the U.S. and SNAP eligibility barriers. My current research interests continue to focus on the causes and effects of poverty, inequities in higher education and influential factors in social mobility, with a focus on rural areas. Growing interests include the intersections of drug policy, health care policy and poverty. My thesis will, in part, focus on inequities in higher education and the relatively undocumented experience of low-income student parents.