Topic Statement for Final Essay

The following is my newly-developed topic statement for my final research essay:

I am going to write my final essay as a journal of 20-year-old Jolene Stien during her sophomore year at St. Olaf, on December 1, 1918.  Jolene is a english major, hoping to become a teacher or even a principal at a grammar school.  She is a white Norwegian and a Lutheran from a fairly wealthy farming family just outside of Minneapolis.  She participates in the St. Olaf Choir and finds ways to play sports with boys even though she is not technically supposed to; she has a lot of spunk and will not let gender constructs get in her way.  Jolene writes her journal as letters to her deceased older brother, Jeremias Stien, who was killed in combat in World War I at age 22 on August 1, 1918 (4 months prior to the current day).  Jeremias was both her brother and her best friend; he had always encouraged her to pursue higher education. However, their mother and father feel differently.  Their parents want Jolene to stay home from college and work on the farm; they had already lost one child and did not want to lose their other.  The journal entry will encompass all of these aspects, as well as touch on the impact of the war on the college, the Christmas Festival concert that Jolene will participate in, the beginning of the winter season on campus, and the development of her gender role on campus.