Clarissa Borges is a Senior History major and Art History minor, who is completing a Departmental Honors Thesis on History and Memory of the Civil War. Clarissa is a member of UCLA’s Bruin Belles Service Association, and works as a Peer Learning Facilitator for the UCLA Athletics Department. Last fall, Clarissa studied abroad at King’s College in London, where she observed many monuments commemorating World War I, sparking her interest in studying how Americans commemorate major events in their history, like the Civil War. Clarissa’s project on History and Memory will focus specifically on Civil War memorials in Washington, D.C., where she was able to conduct research over the summer. In her thesis, Clarissa is working to illustrate the importance of the changes to the interpretations of the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, and Arlington House, The Memorial to Robert E. Lee in Arlington National Cemetery. Clarissa hopes to put these case studies into conversation with the ongoing controversies surrounding the role of both Union and Confederate monuments in commemorating the Civil War. After graduation, Clarissa plans to continue her education with a graduate degree in History or American Studies in order to pursue a career in the public history or educational field.