Lee Williams is a fourth year UVA student majoring in Psychology and Youth and Social Innovation, a program of the Curry School of Education. Lee has been working with Motivate Lab Director, Chris Hulleman, and as a research assistant in the Lab for the past two years and is now conducting his own research on social belonging.
He was recently featured in Curry School news for his work, which examines how social belonging relates to social-emotional outcomes and academic performance during the important transition to high school.
“One of the main reasons I’ve even gotten involved with the Motivate Lab, and one of the only reasons I got the grant and was able to start my own research project, was through Winx,” he said. “The YSI faculty really make the program what it is. Our classes are all 20-25 students, and it’s more like a collaboration than a lecture. They also have real connections with people in the Charlottesville community who are looking for volunteers or interns, and they share that with us,” he told a reporter for the Curry school.