Again, So VERY sorry for the late update! I have been anti-anything involving typing or serious thought for the past few weeks.
It feels good to say I have successfully completed my first "real" semester of my doctoral program (true, I did do summer courses...but that was more like "practice".) It sounds ridiculous, but I actually have missed school over the past few weeks; in fact, in sounds cliché, but it feels as if something is missing when I'm not in class, reading interesting (true, maybe only to me) articles, questioning and pushing myself and the world in general, and trying to place as many of my interests as possible into a nice, neat, and beneficial research project.
Speaking of research...it is truly amazing how much my disjointed ideas regarding research have really started to come together and become more cohesive after just a single semester requiring two different research proposals. I am so happy I chose to do these on things I am really interested in as opposed to going the "easy" route of just building on research I'm doing with faculty or prior studies for the purpose of securing an "easy A". Granted, it was a much more difficult road, but it did allow me to delve into current research in my interest areas and wade through my own thoughts and hopes regarding my future research aspirations.
For those of you who may be interested in knowing where my research interests lie--I am incredibly interested in identifying what makes extraordinary teachers able to truly connect with their students and aid in resiliency building. Additionally, I am interested in what programming and/or training can be implemented in schools, institutions (juvenile detention centers, community centers, teacher training programs, hospitals, etc.) that will lead to better outcomes--academically, emotionally, socially--for the youth receiving services; this is particularly salient for youth considered "at risk".
Anyways, I'll keep you posted on my progress in the research realm!
Finally, as a member of the executive board of Student Affiliates of Seventeen (a division for counseling psychology students housed under the American Psychological Association APA), I am tasked with building a multi-level mentorship program over the next few years. So, in all my immense amounts of free time I have been trying to create a structure for this--and it is this task that seems to be the most difficult for me. It seems like such a large task with such little guidance or direction....so, it is on this topic that I leave you with a multitude of questions:
What do you look for in an ideal mentor? What would the perfect mentorship program include? Have you ever served as a mentor? If so, what led you to choose to do so? What was beneficial about it? What was a pain? If not, why not? Thank you for any help!
Your research interests sound really interesting and very practical for application - yay for that!
ReplyDeleteIs this mentorship program just for PhD students like yourself, or does it include other students?
This mentorship program is just for Counseling Psychology students and practitioners; however, if you have had the experience of having a wonderful mentor or being a mentor, I would love to hear your thoughts on what make a good mentor, how often you recommend communication, etc. etc. etc. :)
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