Izabelle Jaquet

Community-Academic Scholar:  Izabelle Jaquet (she/her)

Project: Izabelle worked with Professor Suiwen (Sharon) Zou and the Champaign County Forest Preserve District to examine CCFPD's 2020 referendum campaign to identify elements of the campaign that secured support from voters. Learn more about the project.

Mentor reflection: "Although Izabelle had quite a few experiences in research, it was her first time to study and directly interact with people in a research project, said Professor Zou, "I was impressed by how fast she grew as a scholar throughout the project, from knowing nothing about qualitative research at the beginning, to taking the lead on interviews by the end of the 10-week program."

Student reflection: "I feel like I gained a better relationship with CCFPD after visiting their parks and thoroughly analyzing various part of their campaign. After this project, I plan to volunteer my time at the parks and help maintain them." 

How did working on this project change your understanding of your research topic or your relationship to the Champaign-Urbana community?
Working on this project with Dr. Zou and the Champaign County Forest Preserve District exposed me to the internal operations of a local governmental agencies within Urbana-Champaign. I never gave a second thought to the tax referendum campaign when I first saw it a year ago, but now I know the amount of money, time, and effort that went into it, as well as the importance of it. Before the referendum passing successfully, the CCFPD was getting by with little money and couldn’t keep up with all the failing infrastructure. Luckily, the campaign was successful at raising awareness and educating the public about the referendum.

Sadly, the issue of not enough funding, yet still having to manage facilities and programs, is likely not unique to the Champaign County Forest Preserves. So, I think this research project was important for informing other agencies and organizations on how to create messages or spread awareness and be successful as well.

I feel like I have a better relationship with CCFPD after visiting their parks and thoroughly analyzing various parts of their campaign. After this project, I plan to volunteer my time at the parks and help maintain them. 

How did participating in this program help you toward your goals?
This program helped me immensely to reach towards my goal. I one day want to be an urban ecologist, and that will involve talking to people to educate them. I’m usually an introverted person and not outgoing unless I need to be. This project allowed me to get comfortable with recruiting and talking to people, slowly helping me get over my fear of interacting with strangers. I know this exposure and experience will help me in the future when I must talk to other people. Furthermore, this project exposed me to qualitative research, which is something I hadn't experienced extensively before. This will be important for my future as I will likely be working on multiple projects with differing goals and methods of research.

What advice would you give to future scholars or to those who are interested in applying for the program?
If this kind of research is new to you, throw yourself in completely and ask as many questions about it as possible. Not only will it help you understand more what’s going on, but you’ll impress your mentor with how dedicated you are to getting out as much as possible. Don’t be afraid to ask simple questions clarifying something they said, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Also, take notes on everything important said. While this might be a given, you never know what piece of information might be important in the future project.