ORONO, Maine -- University of Maine forward Kira Barra, who earned her degree in just three years, has been named the Outstanding Graduating Senior in Media Studies by the University of Maine's School of Communication and Journalism.

Below is a congratulatory note written for Kira by the Communication and Journalism department:

"There are some students you'd wish would never graduate; they're a pleasure to have in class, they work hard, they are enthusiastic and engaged, and they ask questions that make other students and faculty stop and think. Kira is one of those students. Kira Barra joined the media studies program in 2017 from Germany. She came to the University of Maine on a basketball scholarship and has truly excelled in both our program and her athletic endeavors. 

Kira's academic prowess first became apparent in CMJ 203 where she was one of the most inquisitive and hard-working students. In this course, Kira devised a very intriguing research proposal that connected her love for sports with her desire to understand human behavior through an experiment that investigated whether watching televised sports would increase people's desires to play sports. Her literature review was an extremely thorough investigation of extant work into the topic, and her proposed methods section showed an in-depth understanding of the intricacies of experimental work. In the summer of 2019, Kira was able to put her research experience to practical use: She worked as a research assistant on a collaboration between UMaine and Michigan State into the relationship between self-control, challenging media content, and a preference for spoilers. Her work involved sorting through, selecting, and coding hundreds of movies, a daunting task that she took on and managed to complete so quickly, the joint labs weren't even ready to process her data yet. This spring, Kira was able to bring together her writing, planning, and analysis skills for her capstone project. In this project, she used grounded theory to analyze tweets that used the hashtag #FakeNews to discuss the "kids in cages" scandal to understand whether the phrase "fake news" was used as a rhetorical weapon, or "flak" per Chomsky and Hermann's Propaganda Model. Kira's work was impeccable. She wrote up a thorough, well-organized literature review and did a phenomenal job implementing grounded theory analysis. Her paper received the top score in the class and was one of the best capstone papers produced this year. 

As a student, Kira is a joy to have in any class. She is always well-prepared, asks questions, and is clearly interested in moving beyond a mere superficial understanding of the concepts under discussion. Her dedication is truly amazing, especially considering she also plays on the university's women's basketball team. Even when the team was playing conference play-offs, ultimately winning the conference, Kira would turn in her work on time, and in one case, FaceTimed in from the bus on which she was traveling to a game so she wouldn't have to miss class. Her dedication has become even more obvious during this current pandemic. As the University of Maine switched to online learning in the middle of March, and the country's borders were closing, Kira made the last-minute decision to travel back home to Germany. In spite of the 6-hour time difference, the non-mandatory nature of our Zoom meetings, and the fact that she is now working, Kira still attended all meetings and finished at the top of the class. 

As a forward/center for the Maine's Women's Basketball team, Kira helped lead the team to two conference championships. A third victory was cut short by the current pandemic. The same dedication that all of us have seen in the classroom, to her work and her classmates was clearly visible on the court where she was often put in to pull the team out of a particularly difficult spot. Kira's "less talk more action" approach that works so well in the classroom, ultimately also paid off on the court. 

To say we will all miss Kira is an understatement. And not just because she is a great student, but also because she is a wonderful, kind, and caring human being. In spite of her busy schedule, Kira always had time to stop in, say hello, and ask how you were doing. Kira is well-deserving of this award, and we wish her all the best in her future endeavors, knowing full-well she will succeed at whatever she puts her mind to."

-UMaine-