When the application for the SNF Paideia Fellows Program was announced in spring of 2020, Celia Kreth was enrolled in a course with Michael Delli-Carpini, the faculty director of the Paideia Program. He promoted the opportunity to his students and Kreth’s interests were piqued. “One of the benefits of the program is its holistic approach to education,” she says. “As a fellow, I have the liberty to integrate my thesis with a capstone project that doesn’t need to be strictly communications theory. This appealed to me because it allowed me to integrate a hands-on component to the communications studies aspect of my education.”
With funding from the Fellows Program, Kreth is currently working on two different projects, the first of which is more quantitative and related to her interest in diction. The seed of the idea sprouted from the SNF Paideia designated course Peace Communications with Samantha Moore-Berg. “This class taught me a lot about meta-perception and is where I derived the idea of exploring different political diction for my Fellows civic project pitch,” she says.
Kreth is researching political legislation and identifying politically relevant words that have the capability to unify or divide.
The second project in which Kreth is deeply involved is researching the 1957 Crisis that happened in her hometown of Little Rock, AR. Spending time between her hometown of Little Rock, AR and her grandparents’ home in Huntsville, AR, Kreth grew up experiencing the differences between urban and rural lifestyles. Looking back, she can see how this exposure to divergent cultural views fostered a deep appreciation for history, communication styles, and the impact that specific word choice may have on the outcome of a situation.
The judicial effort to integrate Little Rock Central High School sparked racism and violence while underscoring the sharp partisan divides in Little Rock. Kreth seeks to better understand the complex political, cultural, legal, and communicative elements.
In addition to the academic enrichment, the Fellows Program has offered Kreth a community of peers and a home base. “The program has exceeded my expectations,” she says. “It has connected me with people who I wouldn’t have encountered because we are all from different majors and classes. We have interest in at least one or more of the pillars which centers our connection. The pillars are very intersectional, which allows us to relate on a deeper level, not something that is strictly academic.”
Celia reflected that having a structured time in the Fellows pro-seminar and specific, designated mentors to talk about Paideia related problems and solutions creates a scholarly community that is not typical of other academic programs or opportunities she has pursued at Penn.
Read more at the SNF Paideia Program.
