Soleil Sykes graduated as a Political Economy major with a concentration in French language from Antioch College in 2018. Her senior project "Beyond The Fence: Examining Ideas and Institutions in Domestic Civilian–Base Community Relations During Expansion and Contestation" examines mobilization surrounding the F-35A training mission beddown at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. The project draws on civil-military relations, transnational anti-base movements, and grassroots organization literature to develop deeper understandings about the ideas and institutions at play in domestic civil–military relations and how they are mobilized and mediated during periods of expansion and contestation.