The Psychology Department and Career Readiness hosted a Psyched for Success career event on Thursday, March 13. The event was part of the American Psychological Association’s Engaging Psychology’s Future initiative, which is designed to grow, diversify, and support the next generation of psychology professionals.
Psychology Professor Jennifer Merrill opened Psyched for Success! with a recorded welcome message from APA President Dr. Debra Kawahara. Professor Merrill then briefly covered what psychology is, what psychologists do, and some of psychology’s subfields.
The majority of the event was spent speed networking. There were nine round tables, and each table had a professional from a different psychological subfield:
· Angelica Cardenas – Therapy (and Skyline College alumnus!)
· Jaqueline Chavez – Industrial Organizational Psychology
· Mariluisa Diaz – Education/ Community Outreach
· Rebecca Gordon – User Experience Research
· Alicia Heitz and Cyril Munoz – Applies Behavioral Analysis Therapy
· La Wanda Johnson – School Psychology
· Rami Mogannam – Forensic Psychology (and Skyline College alumnus!)
· Shaun Perisho – Experimental Psychology
· Jshon Thomas – Instructional Design/ Online Learning
To start the networking activity, students divided themselves into small groups and sat at one of the tables. Students interacted with their first professional for 20 minutes, and once time was up, students moved to a different table to start another 20-minute session.
The event was a resounding success! Over 120 students attended, and the relaxed and informal setting allowed for engaging conversations with the professionals.
When asked for feedback on Psyched for Success!, students said the following:
“The most interesting thing I’ve learned in this event was how psychology is really involved in a lot of people’s lives more than they notice.”
“[G]etting to know more people and how psychology has shaped their life has truly made me more enticed to the subject …”
“The most interesting thing I learned at this event was how versatile the field of psychology is. Jobs can range from being a therapist to managing a team at a software development company and I think this flexibility is unique to this field. I found it interesting how psychology can be connected back to everything …”
“I have learned a lot from this event because I did not know that a psychology degree could lead to these career paths…”
“If I’m being honest, the most interesting thing I learned from this event is not about what they do for work, but their advice on our careers. It’s interesting because it can be applied to not only their jobs, but every job.”
The Psychology Department thanks Career Readiness, the APA, student volunteers, and all the professionals who donated their time, experience, and knowledge.
Article by Lynette Caballero and Jennifer Merrill
