Outstanding Senior Scholar: Jess Moorefield

Each academic semester, Florida State University's Honors Program recognizes graduating seniors who have distinguished themselves by completing three exceptional academic achievements, earning the distinction of Outstanding Senior Scholar:

  • Maintaining a 3.9 GPA or higher, graduating Summa Cum Laude;
  • Challenging themselves and enriching their education by completing the University Honors Program, in which they completed a minimum of 18 Honors points;
  • Earning Honors in their Major by completing a research or creative project.

To achieve any of these distinctions is a noteworthy accomplishment; achieving all three is a rarity. Jess Moorefield, who graduated in Spring 2023 with dual bachelor's degree in English-Editing, Writing, and Media and Computer Science, earned a well-deserved spot on this semester's list. In addition to the Outstanding Senior Scholar honor, Moorefield is a Garnet and Gold Scholar Society member and a member of Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society.

FSU awarded honors medallions to a total of 331 high-achieving graduates during a May 1 ceremony at Ruby Diamond Concert Hall. 

 

Q&A WITH JESS MOOREFIELD

(Conducted via email)

How do you think earning the Outstanding Senior Scholar recognition will benefit you as you pursue your post-undergraduate endeavors?

In my future work and studies, I’m now able to share and build upon a very diverse four years of education. Although my two degrees—English-Editing, Writing, and Media and computer science—occupy different corners of the College of Arts and Sciences, writing an honors thesis and taking interdisciplinary honors courses helped mesh them together. Over the course of my studies, those two different skillsets combined into a singular, nuanced approach to communication and problem-solving.

I think the OSS award is more than the sum of its three parts, because by the end, I emerged with a more mature and thoughtful perspective on learning and interacting in the world, which will greatly benefit me moving forward.

The Honors site reads that students need to “complete three exceptional academic achievements.” How did you plan your semesters at Florida State University to tailor your time to these program requirements?

During my first two years, I looked at the most important achievements I wanted to accomplish during my time at FSU and realized they included all three parts of OSS. Additionally, I knew I wanted to complete a combined BS/MS program for my computer science degree and to participate in the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP). Taking all these goals together, I mapped out a detailed schedule that would balance them alongside my degrees’ progress.

Although most students work on their Honors in the Major project during their senior year, I completed mine during my junior year so that I could begin taking computer science graduate courses my senior year. And while both Honors in the Major and graduate coursework count toward the Honors Program points requirements, they weren’t the only honors courses I took. Since I was in the Honors Program beginning from my first semester at FSU, I was able to take some general education and interdisciplinary honors courses that also counted toward the points requirement.

Completing the Honors Program, the UROP project, the Honors in the Major program, the combined BS/MS program, and achieving the summa cum laude GPA was not possible without both meticulous planning and support from my family and loved ones.

Could you please describe the inspiration behind your honors thesis project and give a summary description of the contents? 

My honors thesis was advised by Dr. Chris Mills, specialized faculty members of the Computer Science department. The idea for my project was born from observing a need in the business community for a software tool that would help nontechnical users interact with a database. Typically, accessing data directly from a database requires a user to know a query programming language. Without this technical background, a user either needs on-the-job training or to submit a request for the information from another, technical department of their company.

I encountered this situation in my own life while I was working as a communications intern at FSU’s Research Computing Center. I wanted my project to address this central problem, and so I developed the foundations of an approach that allows nontechnical users to access the database by asking questions in plain English rather than writing programming statements.

I drew upon my English major all throughout writing my thesis to help me communicate the technical details of my work in terms understandable to a nontechnical reader, which was a central goal of the project. Being able to articulate the usefulness of your work to someone else is integral to its practicality, and while my thesis is of course a research contribution to the field of computer science, I always envisioned the project as just as much as a practical endeavor to make someone’s life easier.

What advice would you give to any English students who want to earn the Outstanding Senior Scholar achievement?

I would advise to let your curiosity and passion for your studies guide your perception of the OSS award. Do the honors program to enrich your degree with more unique and interdisciplinary perspectives that just your English coursework won’t provide. Do an Honors in the Major thesis because you’ve found a topic or question that compels you, and if you have trouble finding one (like basically everyone does), think about the stories you gravitate toward and how they’re told.

And through every semester, reach for summa cum laude because excelling in your courses brings you personal fulfillment in your knowledge and abilities. While OSS is a great honor, I encourage students to see it as a specific term that links together several experiences with their own remarkable merit, and to pursue those experiences because they are individually meaningful.

What plans do you have for post-graduation?

I am continuing to earn my master's degree in computer science here at FSU and will graduate next spring, May 2024. After that, I plan to enroll in a PhD program in computer science.

 

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