grodrig2@illinois.edu
Gabriel Rodriguez is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His broad research interests focus on examining the social construction of inequalities impacting high school youth such as race, class, and gender. He is also interested in how these concepts inform and shape student activism. Gabriel's dissertation will focus on understanding the educational experiences and activism of Latina/o high school youth in the suburbs of Chicago. He looks at how these students’ educational experiences have impacted their identity development and their involvement in community and school activities along with how these facets shape their agency, their critical consciousness and willingness to take action. By capturing these experiences he hopes to highlight the complexity of Latino youth and how they navigate their daily lives in a suburban context.