“The Skillful Psychology student” guide shown above lays out skills that could be listed on a resume, CV and LinkedIn. The graphic separates skills into five categories and lays out some of the most valued skills in each category.
If you are looking to enhance the way you look to possible employers or future graduate schools then check it out!
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This past semester Vanessa Pearson ’21 was selected as a recipient for the Gilman Scholarship and traveled abroad to Australia. A brief interview was done with Pearson to learn more about this opportunity and experiences:
Thank you for taking time to answer some questions! To start off, can you tell me a little about you?
I am a junior here at Roanoke. I live off campus and commute to school. I am an education and psychology major looking to get my teaching license and work in an elementary school.
Where did you study abroad? Why did you choose to study there and what was it like? Was it different from what you were expecting?
I studied abroad in Townsville, Australia which is on the northern east coast. I chose to study there because I had always wanted to travel to Australia, and it was northern, therefore it would be warmer. I also chose it because they speak English, I wanted to get inside an elementary school classroom and therefore would have needed to understand what they were saying.
What were some of your favorite moments while abroad?
I loved meeting new people from all over the world. I loved traveling all around Australia. I got to be a part of a turtle release, which is where they released a turtle back into the ocean that they had found hurt and nurtured back to life.
What were you most worried about in terms of studying abroad?
I was worried that I wouldn’t make any friends while I was abroad and that I would be lonesome and homesick.
Did anything happen that you weren’t expecting? Were there any moments that particularly struck you while abroad? Tell me about them.
I was not expecting my time there to go by so quickly. I was nervous when I was traveling that this was going to be the longest trip of my life and I was surprised when it was time to pack up and come home. I had so many amazing moments with friends that I had made there. I loved the weekends where I got to travel with my friends to different cities. It struck me by surprise at how different everybody is while also being kind of the same.
What did you learn while abroad? This is not limited to just coursework (though certainly talk about the types of courses you were able to take) but also about the culture or cultures you interacted with and, cheesy as it is, yourself as well.
I learned that the cultures in Australia are still very ingrained in how they do things throughout their day. In classes, professors start off with an acknowledgement of culture and thanking the aboriginal people for providing the land in which the school was built on. I learned that I enjoyed learning about the culture of another country and that I would like to go to other countries in the future and learn more about the culture and the way they see things now.
What do you miss the most?
I miss the people that I met there the most. I met so many amazing people who I enjoyed spending my time with. It is still sometimes hard to come to school and not see them around. I miss the environment I was surrounded by during my time there.
Tell me about your plans for the future. How will you apply what you learned while abroad to help you?
I would love to continue to travel to different places in the world. My next trip I am planning would be to go and travel around Europe. I will apply what I have learned abroad because I learned to take a step back and truly listen to the stories that are being told around you. I learned that if you look around at even the smallest things, you can find so much culture in it.
Do you have any advice for other students interested in studying abroad?
My advice would be to do it. If you are thinking about it, you should one hundred percent just do it. It is an amazing experience and while you may miss home for the first couple of days, you make friends and it does get easier. It can open your eyes to some crazy and great things.
Congratulations again to Vanessa Pearson on receiving the Gilman Scholarship and on a successful trip, and thank you for taking time to answer some questions!
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On Monday, September 30 from 4:30 – 6:30 PM there will be an Internship fair held in the Colket Center. This is a wonderful opportunity to find out more about internships offered for the Spring, Summer, and Fall of next year! Internships are a great way to immerse yourself into your field and possible future jobs.
For psychology majors, an internship can be used for credit to fulfill one of three electives. If you are interested in more information regarding how to count an internship for credit check out this link!
No matter for credit or experience, internships are a great way to apply the knowledge you have already learned to a new and different setting, as well as grow a social network that can lead you to possible future careers.
So stop on by the internship fair and learn more about what the Salem and Roanoke area has to offer for students!
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Take part in Mindful Mondays On Monday afternoons from 3:00-3:45 in THE WELL (Alumni 216). If you are feeling stressed and looking for a way to relax for a little, this is the place for you! Ms. Laura Leonard will be leading these weekly group sessions to offer insight on mindfulness-based practices. If you are interested in learning more about mindfulness or are interested in finding new ways to handle stress stop on by! All are welcome and we hope to see you there!
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Congratulations to Dr. Hilton (Roanoke College), Dr. Jarrett (The University of Alabama), Dr. Rondon (The University of Alabama), Josh Tutek (The University of Alabama) and Mazheruddin Mulla (The University of Alabama) for their recent publishing in the Child Psychiatry & Human Development Journal, titled “Increased Working Memory Load in a Dual‑Task Design Impairs Nonverbal Social Encoding in Children with High and Low Attention‑Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms.”
In this article, Dr. Hilton and fellow researchers look into the relationship between working memory and nonverbal social cues. By testing children with High and Low ADHD symptoms through computerized tasks of social encoding and working memory in both single- and dual-task conditions, they revealed that both children with High ADHD and Low ADHD performed significantly worse during the dual-task condition compared to the single task conditions. They also found that children with High ADHD
had significantly lower performance than Low ADHD children on task-based social encoding and working memory.
For more information on the article, follow this link and once again congratulations Dr. Hilton and his fellow researchers for their publishing!
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Congratulations to Dr. Kuchynka (University of South Florida), Dr. Findley-Van Nostrand (Roanoke College), and Dr. Pollenz (University of South Florida) for their recent publishing in the CBE-Life Sciences Education Journal, titled “Evaluating Psychosocial Mechanisms Underlying STEM Persistence in Undergraduates: Scalability and Longitudinal Analysis of Three Cohorts from a Six-Day Pre–College Engagement STEM Academy Program.”
In this article, Dr. Findley-Van Nostrand and fellow researchers look into the ability to scale the size of the SA program to accommodate more students and replicate the previous findings with two additional cohorts. Through longitudinal analysis of three different cohorts, they were able to discover that the SA program increases sense of belonging and science identity, and that these attitudinal changes promote undergraduate persistence in STEM.
For more information on the article, follow this link and once again congratulations to Dr. Findley-Van Nostrand and her fellow researchers for their publishing!
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This past summer Rachel Harmon was selected as a recipient of the 2018-2019 Summer Mamie Phipps Clark Diversity Undergraduate Research Grant from Psi Chi, the international psychology honorary, where she spent several weeks in Mexico working on her project titled, “Cross-Cultural Comparison of Caregiver Concerns and Resources for Children with Disabilities.”
Rachel Harmon was in the list of top 11 applications and so Dr. Powell was awarded a faculty stipend as well.
A brief interview was done with Harmon to learn more about this project and process:
Thank you for taking time to answer some questions, to start off, can you describe what the grant process was like and how you discovered it?
I began the grant application process in December of last year but ended up not submitting the grant until the May due date. I heard about the grant through Dr. Powell, who recommended applying, and advised me throughout the process. The grant required me to provide a concise version of my Literature Review and a brief Methodology section, and all the scales that I would use. I found that the grant helped me to determine the specific methodology I would use for my project and helped me to determine the specific scales that I would use.
Can you tell me more about your project?
The title of my project is “Cross-Cultural Comparison of Caregiver Concerns and Resources for Children with Disabilities”. I have collected both observational and quantitative data in both Mexico and the United States to compare the resources that are available for children with disabilities in each country and how this impacts caregiver stress levels and the emotions they feel, regarding caring for their child with a disability. I originally got the idea for my project when I traveled to Nicaragua the summer before my freshman year. While I was walking through a market in Managua, I saw a woman who was working and had her daughter who had a disability in what we would consider a baby stroller. I have worked a lot with individuals, specifically with children with disabilities and developmental delays, and I was naturally compelled to investigate the topic further.
What drew you to Mexico for this project?
I was originally supposed to return to Nicaragua for my project, but due to the current political environment, it was not ideal for travel. Jesse Griffin, who serves on the committee of my project knew of several connections that our college has with research facilities and other institutions in the Yucatán. One of the facilities was conveniently across the street from a Centro de Atención Múltiple, which is a government funded special education school, which was a great resource for collecting observational data and distributing surveys.
What did a normal day look like for you in Mexico as you worked on this project?
For the first month I spent in Mexico I was in Oxkutzcab, which was a small, rural town. This was where the C.A.M. school was. Each weekday I would go to the school at 7:30, and I would rotate which classroom I was in each day. The school has seven classes serving student from ages 2-28. Depending on which classroom I was in, I would either observe the class, and participate in class activities, or work one on one with students who needed more individualized attention. The school days in Mexico only last from 7:30 to 12:30, so in the afternoons I would explore or relax, and work on other research tasks.
I spent the second month in the capital of the Yucatán, Mérida. Here, I was working with an internationally run non-profit called SOLYLUNA. The organization provides special education opportunities and access to physical therapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy for children who have a diagnosis of multiple disabilities and their caregivers. The dynamic of the organization was very different than the C.A.M. school, so it was an adjustment. The organization requires that a caregiver accompanies the child for the full day from 7:30-1:30. My job as a volunteer was to assist the parents when needed, and to observe the teachers and therapists. I also worked with the volunteer coordinator and director of the organization to create a document about potential resources to provide for caregivers, and I took pictures for them to use for promotion purposes. Since I was now in a larger city there was a lot more to explore in the afternoons, and I enjoyed travelling on the weekends.
You mentioned that you had opportunities to explore while in Mexico, what was the coolest place you visited/most favorite?
I did have a lot of time to explore while I was in Mexico, especially on the weekends. I enjoyed exploring nearby towns and venturing further to other landmarks. I think my favorite place I traveled to while in Mexico was Isla las Mujeres. This was an island off the coast of Cancún, where we were able to hear lots of live music, enjoy the beach, and go snorkeling. I met a group of other students from Millsaps College, in Mississippi while I was there, and I enjoyed traveling with them and meeting them at different places on some weekends.
If given the opportunity would you go back and work, there again?
Absolutely! While I was there, I formed a lot of connections with the kids, caregivers, teachers and therapists that I was working with and I would love to see them again (I miss them a lot)! It was hard to leave such amazing people, and such an amazing place.
Is there anything else you would like us to know?
Overall, my experiences in Mexico taught me more than I could have ever imagined. I especially learned a lot about collecting data in another culture, which is an experience I consider myself lucky to have had at this point in my academic career. Whether it is through research, or a different study abroad program, I highly recommend spending time in another country to everyone, because it allows you to learn so much about yourself and the world.
Congratulations again to Rachel Harmon and Dr. Powell and thank you for taking time to answer some questions!
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Are you interested in taking a class in another part of the world? If so, come out to the Ballroom this Thursday, September 5 between 12 – 1 pm to hear about the awesome May Term Travel courses being offered this coming spring! Dr. Powell will be there sharing information on the course she is teaching, IL 377: Emerging Adults in Thailand – A Cross-Cultural Society, which counts as an elective for those in the Human Development concentration but is also a wonderful opportunity for all those interested in human development. Other faculty will be sharing about their courses that are also being offered as well!
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