CHSS Connection: A Podcast by Students for Students

Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai.  
 
EMMA:  
Welcome to CHSS Connection, a podcast where we interview different students about all things CHSS, from academics to careers to everything in between. What exactly is CHSS? That's the College of Humanities and Social Sciences here at Mason. This is a student success podcast for CHSS students by CHSS students. However, if you're not a CHSS student, welcome! We're so glad you're here. 
I'm Emma Howard. 
CADIE: 
And I'm Cadie Junker. 
 BOTH: 
And we're your hosts. 
CADIE: 
Today is the chance for you to get to know us and get a feel for the vibe of the podcast. This is a brand new project that we're both so excited about. And in this episode, we will be interviewing each other and explaining a bit about the podcast structure. That way you guys know what to expect going forward.  
With that said, shall we get into our questions?  
 EMMA: 
Yes, Cadie, what's your grade and major? 
 CADIE: 
So I am a junior Communications major with a concentration in Public Relations. What about you? 
 EMMA: 
I am a senior English major. I have my concentrations in Literature and Screen Cultures, which is kind of like video and media studies. I'm also studying Theater Education in the School of Theater. 
CADIE: 
Very cool. Very cool. And why did you choose your major? 
 EMMA: 
Okay, it's a little convoluted, but I will summarize as best as I can.  
 CADIE: 
That's okay.  
 EMMA: 
Okay, so before I came to Mason, I was actually a student at NOVA. 
I transferred here beginning my junior year, and I was really undecided at NOVA. I was not sure what I wanted to do. I mean, I was looking at like psychology, business. 
Never once did I consider English, actually, but I knew that I was leaning towards theater and I was really drawn to theater education. Now, NOVA did not have a transferable associates for theater. They only had like a 15, 18 credit certificate. 
So my advisor and I landed on the closest subject with the most intersection with theater, which was English.  
 CADIE: 
Ah. 
 EMMA: 
And again, to be clear, I never thought I would be an English major.  
CADIE: 
And now that you are, do you like it? Do you enjoy it?  
EMMA:  
I do! I do. I took my second year of NOVA, of taking some really great literature classes and just getting more comfortable with finding my voice in my writing, and also just rediscovering my love for reading and reading academically. 
CADIE: 
Yes.  
EMMA: 
I really do love the English major, and coming to Mason has really only continued to enhance that passion.  
CADIE: 
Mm-hm.  
EMMA: 
Now, why did you choose your major? 
CADIE: 
Wouldn't you believe it? It's also kind of convoluted. So, I went into high school really wanting to do film, right? 
And so, I wanted to do writing, and I've always loved writing since I was very, very little. So, I looked up, you know, what would be the best programs to go into screenwriting, and everything was telling me do English, not film, actually, specifically with creative writing, because that's going to essentially flesh out your craft, right? However, because I liked writing so much, I also considered journalism, and I really enjoy talking to people, and I really enjoy getting to hear so many different perspectives on so many different things. 
And it kind of came down to either doing film back in my home state or doing Communications here at Mason. And I chose Communications here at Mason.  
So again, I never really saw myself as a Comm major, but I love it. I wouldn't change it. I'm really excited to discuss it on this podcast because I think we get a bad rep, and I am grateful for the opportunity to knock that reputation down a few pegs. 
 EMMA: 
Yeah. No, I hear you. English majors are always hit with the question of, oh, so you want to teach? 
CADIE: 
Yeah.  
 EMMA: 
No, stop, please.  
I'm curious how you got into your PR concentration. 
CADIE: 
So I still wanted to be involved in the film world, and I got an internship my senior year, and it really made me realize the parts about film that I enjoyed the most was the marketing, the branding, and the relationships that actors and people behind the scenes form with their audience. And that's not writing. That's PR. 
That's not actually film production like that at its core is public relations.  
EMMA: 
Yeah. How fun. 
And so, leading me into my next question of, it sounds like the program here at Mason is what drew you to come here. So why did you choose Mason? 
CADIE: 
One hundred percent. So, I actually get this question a lot because fun fact about me, I'm from Albuquerque, New Mexico. And whenever I tell people that they're always like, how did you find George Mason? 
What are you doing out here? And I always tell them the same story was that one day I got a letter from GMU inviting me to their Washington Journalism and Media Conference. And I thought it was a scam. I thought these people were trying to get my money, telling me “you could go to Washington! Wow!”  
And so I go inside, and I show this letter to my mom, and she's like, “No, this isn't a scam. This is this is a very much a real thing. Do you want to go?” And I went, “Yeah, I want to go!” 
So that's how I found Mason. And, you know, I got a fee waiver. So, I decided to apply. 
They gave me a really good scholarship. And, you know, we're right here, really close to D.C. And being from Albuquerque, there are so many opportunities out here that I would never really even dream of getting. So, it was just kind of the best of all worlds. 
Location I enjoyed. Very good program. Good scholarships. 
Just kind of made the most sense.  
EMMA: 
Yeah. 
CADIE: 
What about you? 
EMMA: 
So, opposite situation. I have been aware of George Mason all my life. My entire family has attended and graduated from George Mason literally going back to like the 1980s. 
CADIE: 
Oh, wow. 
EMMA: 
Yeah. 
So I'm sure...  I don't know if you're aware, and listeners maybe maybe know of Buchanan Hall. Yeah. So apparently, my dad interned for him in the 1980s. 
CADIE: 
Oh! 
EMMA: 
I know. I learned about this this past summer. So like, yeah, like my mom and my dad got like business degrees. 
And my sister graduated from the nursing program in 2020. My brother graduated with a degree in criminology. And then I'm the arts kid. 
I'm doing English and theater and film. 
CADIE: 
Yeah, yeah. 
EMMA: 
But I wanted to come to Mason because one, I'm already familiar with the place. I remember literally living with my sister or visiting her in President's Park and sleeping on her futon when I was 12. And another thing too is also opposite to your situation. 
I'm from Woodbridge, Virginia, which is like 30 minutes away here from George Mason. So, it's close to home. The summer before I had transferred into Mason, my sister just had her first daughter. And it was the first grandchild of the family.  
And so, I was like, oh, there's so many new and exciting things happening. Now's really not the time I'm ready to leave and to go far away from home. 
Another thing too is that just as you said, DC, North Virginia, Fairfax, so many opportunities for the arts and humanities. I also just didn't really know of any other place to go. I did do a tour of VCU, like my first year at NOVA. 
CADIE: 
Yeah. 
EMMA: 
And I visited. I was like, you know, this is cool. But I remember visiting and seeing that, like VCU, is literally embedded into the streets of Richmond, which in so many ways has its own advantages. 
But I remember them saying that, like, for example, the college library was also a public library for like the for the city, which is very neat and I think really great for like accessibility reasons. But I don't know. I really like how George Mason offers its own little bubble. 
It's its own little active world within the active world of Fairfax, within the greater world of Northern Virginia. So, I kind of like that George Mason has its own bustling environment going on. 
CADIE: 
Yes. It's a very traditional college experience, with the exception of not having a D1 football team, but that's neither here nor there. And speaking of college experience, what's the best class you've taken here at Mason? 
EMMA: 
My gosh, so many, so many. A few that I have really made sure just to note in my mind. So my very first semester, I took American Women Writers in Movies, taught by Dr. Lisa Koch. I had a media criticism class; it was actually a communications class, taught by Dr. Timothy Gibson. This last spring, I had 19th century British novels with Dr. Kristin Samuelian. And then class that actually resulted in me gaining a really fantastic mentor here at George Mason is it was a Shakespeare literature course where we focused on non-normative Shakespeare taught by Dr. Jennifer Wood. Those are just some of the classes I've taken. Honestly, I feel like every class I've taken, especially since I transferred in going into like coming into like the 300s, 400s, you know, they get a little more specific. 
CADIE: 
Yeah.  
EMMA: 
I mean, I feel like I've taken something from every class that I've attended.  
CADIE: 
Nice. 
EMMA: 
What about you? What have been some of the best classes you've taken? 
CADIE: 
So in full transparency, I'm also a sort of transfer student. 
EMMA: 
That’s right! 
CADIE: 
But we can get more into my experience with that later in this interview. But I've only taken one full semester of classes here at Mason. Because last semester I was in Spain. 
But even then, like there are some very significant standouts in my mind. So, COMM 203, which is Introduction to Journalism. If there are any newly incoming journalism concentrations, take that class with Brenna Maloney. 
She is fantastic. She is an amazing professor. I loved her class. 
And it broke my heart when I realized I wanted to go into Public Relations and not journalism because I wanted to take more of her classes. As far as my fellow PR concentrations out there, any class you can get with Dr. Diddi is going to be fantastic. I have her for my Intro to PR this semester. 
And she is so incredibly supportive. I love her class. The way that she really presents things to you really makes it make sense. 
And it gives you a much better foundational understanding of what public relations is. Because if you're going into this field, you are going to hear a lot: “Well, how's that different from advertising or marketing or this or that?” 
Not unfair questions.  
But it's important you know how to answer those questions. And Dr. Diddi will give you a fantastic way to answer those questions. So those are my recs. So favorite project that you've done here at Mason? 
EMMA: 
Yeah. Okay. To clarify, when you say project, are we talking academic projects, creative projects? 
CADIE: 
Just I would say overall.  
EMMA: 
Overall, okay. 
CADIE: 
I would say something that you have done for Mason. So that's normally an academic project, but...  
EMMA: 
Of course, one academic project that comes to mind, it was for my American Women Writers course, my very first semester here. It was the final project.  
We had to pick a topic, and we essentially had to create this sort of like very short graphic presentation of whatever we were doing our topic on. And to provide a little context about like what the class was actually doing was we were essentially looking at the four waves of feminism in the United States. And we would watch a movie or read a text that was representative of that wave. 
And so, I for my final project, I hope I can remember this properly, because things just move so quickly in college. But my final project was I took the what is it the 2019 and 1990s something film, and the original book of Little Women.  
I took those adaptations of Little Women. And I kind of connected them to each wave of feminism. And I was like, this really was a perfect intersection of like my Literature and Screen Cultures concentrations.  
CADIE: 
Yeah. 
EMMA: 
And it was like, that was a project that like I was thoroughly remembered. Like, I'm actually really enjoying going through this process and like writing about this and researching this, and then getting to talk about it. But no, I just really love that because I love the story of Little Women. 
And then also getting to take the context and knowledge from what we covered in that class. And that was just a really unique project that just stands out to me. 
CADIE: 
Yeah.  
EMMA: 
What about for you?  
CADIE: 
So, really one comes to mind. I'm also part of the Honors College. And your first semester in the Honors College, you take 110, which is the research class. And you create a selective literature review for that class,  and I did mine on dopamine and social media algorithms, and how algorithms are created to trigger our dopamine receptors.  
And that's why we become so addicted to social media. The way that it affects our dopamine receptors is incredibly similar to the way that alcohol or drug use does. 
So that was really interesting. Kind of scary, but really interesting. And I was just very grateful for how that project came together. 
I'm so grateful for my teacher, Maoria Kirker, who is absolutely excellent. She's a great 110 teacher. Just that project overall. 
Like I said, I haven't really been here at Mason physically for that long. So, but that is still something that really stands out to me. 
EMMA: 
Yeah. That sounds like a really incredible project to get to work on and learn about. Backpedaling just a little bit. 
CADIE: 
Just a tad.  
EMMA: 
Tell me about your transfer experience, Cadie. 
CADIE: 
Okay. So yes, I am technically a transfer student, although that title seems weird to me because I am transfer through dual credit. So my high school, and I'm very lucky that this was the case, was incredibly supportive of me going and taking dual credit classes at the local community college. 
So I went to Central New Mexico Community College. I did two years full-time and then an extra year of just doing Spanish classes there. And I was able to graduate with my English Associates about a month before I graduated from high school, which was absolutely amazing. 
I'm so grateful for that. And because of that, I was able to get a lot of credits to transfer in. Surprisingly, pretty much all of them transferred. 
The only one that didn't was my Spanish 102, because George Mason just doesn't accept 102 transfers. They want to make sure that you take either 102 or 115 here at Mason before you go on to that intermediate level. Or you can take like placement tests and things like that if you really don't want to take it. 
But I was fine with that. So, it was actually very easy, very smooth. And like I said, I think my transfer student experience, in quotes, is very similar to any other high schooler's experience coming into college. 
Except because of my background in dual credit, it didn't really feel like a huge shock to my system because I had been taking college classes since I was 15. 
EMMA: 
Yeah, wow. My transfer experience was, I started college in 2022 after I graduated from high school. And again, I was just, I'm just going to go to NOVA. 
I was not really sure about where I wanted to attend. And then I've already shared the story about how I landed on getting my English associates. Going into my second year at NOVA, I learned about the ADVANCE program. 
I was going to NOVA under the impression that, oh, I'm just going to do the guaranteed admissions program. But then I learned that there were a lot of technicalities and nuances to that where if you missed a step, oh, now you have to apply competitively or not all of your credits are going to be transferred over. So that just gave me a lot of anxiety. 
And so I joined the ADVANCE program, which was really neat. And I highly recommend, I mean, I think anyone listening to this podcast is already here at Mason. But if you have friends who are considering joining the ADVANCEprogram, encourage them to do so because I joined the advanced program, I became a non-degree student here at Mason.  
So, I actually had access to all of Mason's utilities, facilities, like career services, financial aid, advising, even sometimes like I had a coach. And so I really had all these great opportunities to start interacting with Mason. 
And then also just made the matriculation process seamless. Every credit I earned at Nova transferred here. 
CADIE: 
Yeah. 
EMMA: 
Which is splendid. 
CADIE: 
I have a question for you.  
EMMA: 
Yeah.  
CADIE: 
So, when you applied to Mason, you applied as a transfer student, correct? 
EMMA: 
Because of the advanced program, I don't even think I did a technical application to Mason.  
CADIE: 
Oh, you were just in.  
EMMA: 
I was because I was already in. I was already in as a non-degree student.  
CADIE: 
Gotcha. 
EMMA: 
And my coach handled so much of the paperwork and making sure that everything was smoothed over for me. I didn't have to fill out an application, no essay, no nothing. 
CADIE: 
Wow. That's great. See, I applied as a first year, not a transfer student. 
And that is something I asked my advisor about. I was like, hey, I have all these classes. Like I technically am a full time college student. 
What do I apply as? And she said, just apply as a first year. On this podcast, we do want to hear from transfer students who applied to Mason as transfer students. 
EMMA: 
Yes 
CADIE: 
So if you are a CHSS student who's also a transfer student, come on the podcast. 
EMMA: 
Cadie,  
CADIE: 
Yes.  
EMMA: 
We've already talked a lot about classes we've taken, some of the connections we've made. But so far in your experience here at Mason, what's been your favorite memory? 
CADIE: 
If I'm sticking to physically on Mason campus, it has to be the spooktacular last year. So, this was my freshman year.  
EMMA: 
Tell me more. What?  
CADIE: 
I can see you holding back your laughter. The audience can't see that, though. So, I'm telling it to them. You're holding back laughter right now.  
And it sounds kind of ridiculous, but it's Mason's Halloween party that they do. 
And this was my first time being away from home for an extended period of time. It was my first time being away from my parents, my friends. I'm in a long distance relationship, right? 
But going to that spooktacular with my friends was such a core piece of freshman year because it is one of the standout moments, and it wasn't the first time that I thought this, but it was one of the most prominent where I truly felt like, yes, this was the best decision I could have made. This is why I chose Mason to be able to have this time with my friends, to be able to enjoy fall out here. 
It was just such an amazing night, and getting to meet people from all over the country was fantastic.  
And it was so different. And it was so new. It just reminded me, yes, this is why you decided to go to school, not just out of state, but across the country.  
EMMA: 
Right. 
CADIE: 
What about you?  
EMMA: 
Yeah, my favorite memory so far has been, it was in my English 301 class. I loved that class because I loved it because I loved the people in that class. And I love the professor.  
Look, let's be real. We all have like our unconsciously assigned seats by like week three in our classes. 
CADIE: 
100%.  
EMMA: 
And my table, we all became a group that semester. Starting around, I think it was beginning of October, my friend, Elias, Elias Collier, I hope you're listening to this episode. I'm about to shout you out. Elias had the idea that, guys, we need to dress up for Halloween. 
We need to do something for Halloween because we were going to have class on October 31st. And so we went as the family from Family Guy. 
CADIE: 
I love that. Oh, my gosh.  
EMMA: 
I have not watched a single full episode of Family Guy, though. I knew of some of the characters. 
I’d seen those like reels on TikTok and Instagram. I was like, I know their names. I really don't know their personalities. 
So, we all like went around and we're like assigning each other like Elias went as  Lois. Which if you know...  
CADIE: 
That's beautiful. That's beautiful. 
EMMA: 
And we all like a month in advance, we're buying costumes and I bought like a pink beanie and shirt and like Amazon ordered it. That was the first time I also figured out how to use like the Hub, which was really exciting. And sothen October 31st came around. 
If you were to like scan the classroom, you would see like students, some of them dressed in normal clothes, maybe some of them wearing like fun costumes. And then right out of the cartoon is the Family Guy family. So it'slike... 
CADIE: 
That’s so funny. 
EMMA:  
And we took so many great pictures. I just remember that moment being so affirming because for so many reasons, it felt like the time I had been spending to make connections and find community here at Mason and within the English program as well, it finally clicked. I feel like I found like I found peers. 
I felt so assured that no, like this is like you were saying, this is why I'm here. I have community. I have a space. 
It was so, so affirming. And I still haven't watched Family Guy.  
CADIE: 
It's okay. Me neither.  
EMMA: 
In addition to that, I've been trying to expand my reach and my interactions here at Mason. And so that leads me to my next question of Cadie, what resources here at Mason have you utilized so far?
CADIE: 
I get to talk about studying abroad now! 
EMMA: 
Oh, yay! 
CADIE: 
Yay! Global Gateway, fantastic program. It is so incredibly rare for a university to have a freshman study abroad program. But GMU does. 
It's called Global Gateway. And if anybody is interested in studying abroad and are very sure about it, like I was, do Global Gateway.  
Because not only does it just get you out there so much sooner than a lot of other programs would, because a lot of other programs are geared towards juniors or seniors, but then you're concerned about credits, which I think is why GMU has the freshman program, because you're a freshman, you shouldn't be that worried about credits yet.  
Two, the second reason why I highly recommend Global Gateway is that your first semester at Mason, you are taking a prep class. It's a one credit hour course. 
This preparation class gives you so much more insight into the visa process, into the culture, into the school you'll experience out there. It also allows you to meet the people you're going out there with beforehand. So, by the time I got to Spain, I already knew who I was going to be hanging out with. 
I knew people who lived right by me. We were already sort of a community. It was great. 
And that really helps with culture shock. I couldn't imagine doing a study abroad program and not knowing anybody from the get go. That would be so incredibly hard. 
So the Global Education Office, GEO, Global Gateway, I love all those programs. I'm so grateful that Mason has them.  
Yeah. What about you?  
EMMA: 
Yeah. Well, a note about study abroad. I've always wanted to study abroad. I should do it. 
I want to, but as you know, it is time consuming and money consuming. Oh? 
CADIE: 
Fun fact about money consuming. You're an in-state student. So, this might be a little bit different. 
Depending on the program, you will pay in-state tuition or less. So, I paid less than what I normally pay. I'm an out-of-state student, so obviously my tuition's a little bit higher, but my second semester was cheaper than my first semester because I was in Spain.  
Now you have to buy flights and things like that. Plus, you know, whatever money you want to use to go travel. 
But... talk to your advisors about specific programs because the cost might be cheaper than you expect. 
EMMA: 
Yeah. That's assuring to hear because I know that a lot of people have found a lot of joy and success in study abroad. When I think about resources that I've used, I actually think about what I've used most recently, we're talking about today.  
I started actually utilizing disability services because this is going to sound super ironic, but I'm an English major. I love reading. I even love writing, but I have writing anxiety. And so disability services, it was just like really helpful in acquiring accommodations. Today I got approved for housing accommodations. 
So, I get to move from a double suite to a single apartment, which is a... that's just something that I don't think a lot of people utilize as much as they can. From what I've observed, they can really help you with anything that you need, or they can at least support you to get the accommodations that you need. And I'll say a lot of people don't know where they're located. 
They're located in sub one, along with a bunch of other resources. 
CADIE: 
Yes, sub one is like a gold mine. And one of the things that we're planning on doing on this podcast is highlighting a lot of these resources. And I think probably eight times out of 10, the resources are going to be in sub one. 
EMMA: 
I will say though, I'm glad I've utilized disability services, but there's still a ton of resources. I have only just started to really get to know. 
CADIE: 
Yeah.  
EMMA: 
There's something called contemporary student services. 
CADIE: 
Yes!  
EMMA: 
It's a great resource, a great office. They're located on the lowest floor, the last bottom floor of the Hub.  
CADIE: 
I know I went into their lounge one day because I was waiting for my friend to get off of work from student media. Nathan, if you're listening to this, I'm talking about you. 
I hope you come on the pod! You're a Comms major! Come and join me. 
We can chat. Anyways, and I walk into the contemporary students' lounge, and it is so nice.  
EMMA: 
Right? No, it's very nice. When we say contemporary student services, that literally includes everyone.
CADIE: 
They're for transfer students, first gen. If you're a college student who has a child, they are for you. I forget what other students they service. 
But honestly, like going in there, I didn't even know. And they didn't even check like what type of contemporary student I was. 
EMMA: 
No, they don't. 
CADIE: 
Which even calling myself a transfer student is still kind of meh because I was basically the 18 year old fresh out of high school going into college. But I digress. For people who have more untraditional college experiences, gocheck them out. 
They're great. 
EMMA: 
Another thing that everyone should check out is how to get jobs and internships here at Mason. 
CADIE: 
Excellent segway. Excellent segway, Emma. 
EMMA: 
Thank you, Cadie. Yes. How have you found your jobs and internships here at Mason? 
CADIE: 
So I got really lucky. One, I found this internship through Handshake. Love Handshake. 
If you're not on Handshake, get on it. Especially if you need an on campus job, because I need an on campus job.  
And LinkedIn is nice. But a lot of the jobs that you find on there are not going to be on campus. They're going to be much more like traditional career focused jobs. If you want something on campus, get on Handshake. 
EMMA: 
Yes.  
CADIE: 
So, I found this internship through Handshake. I applied for it, you know, wrote my resume, cover letter, got the interview, got the next interview. 
And now I'm here. Yay. And then there is another scholarship slash internship thing that I have. 
That is for my on-campus ministry. And essentially, that kind of just fell into my lap where they were like, hey, you're doing a lot of work for us. We want to give you a scholarship to kind of compensate for that. 
EMMA: 
Yeah.  
CADIE: 
So yeah, those are kind of the two programs that I'm with. Of course, this one is the more formal, like actual internship. 
But that one is also something that I found here at Mason that I'm very grateful for. Yeah. Emma, what about you? Your jobs and internships.  
EMMA: 
Oooo ok! So all right. So my very first semester at Mason didn't get a job. 
I was behind on finding a job because I will say. 
CADIE 
I don't think that's behind, actually.  
EMMA: 
Okay.  
CADIE: 
I think now, obviously, this comes from a place of financial privilege. 
But if you can afford it, don't get a job your first semester of freshman year. Because you are taking a plunge into the deep end of sorts. And you are reexamining your life. 
And you're learning how to be an adult on your own for probably the very first time. I know that was the case for me. 
Plus, you know, I was going to Spain. And on my student visa, you can't work. So it just didn't really make sense for me to get a job.  
And I know that comes, again, from a place of financial privilege. But if you can't afford it, I would recommend not getting a job your first semester freshman year. 
EMMA: 
Yeah. 
I will say I was very lucky that I worked a lot that summer before coming into Mason, and so I had a nice cushion of money that protected me from literally going broke. I will say by the end of that fall semester, I think I had like$11 in my account. I really needed a job, guys. 
CADIE: 
Now you have a job! 
EMMA: 
I have so many jobs! 
CADIE 
So many jobs! 
EMMA: 
Yeah, I also utilized Handshake. My very first job was working at the Corner Pocket, the Hub. Love the student centers and the whole team there. 
I really recommend anyone who wants to go to the Corner Pocket, go. It's like the campus' arcade and game room. Super fun. Also, just a fun job.  
Then I worked as a Patriot leader, which is like the orientation leader where I worked over the summer. Through that, I've actually been promoted to student coordinator for orientation. 
And then over the last few months, I've also applied for, interviewed, and gotten offers for, one, this position. So the CHSS podcast production internship. I also am taking a university class right now to be a student strengths coach for the Center of Well-being here at Mason. That will be starting in the spring.  
Something I also want to highlight about Handshake, and this will lead me into the next really incredible position I have, is Handshake can also help you find internships and jobs outside of Mason. So, it's a really great resource to use for on-campus jobs. 
Cadie and I can absolutely attest to that. I am now an intern for scholarly programs at Folger Institute. It's the Folger Shakespeare Library in DC. 
I got that position through Handshake.  
CADIE: 
We love Handshake.  
EMMA: 
We love Handshake, guys. Please download it.  
CADIE: 
The other pro to Handshake that doesn't apply to LinkedIn, there's a lot less people on Handshake than there are on LinkedIn. So, you're competing against a lot less people. 
EMMA: 
It's also, I also feel like it's more organized in a way because especially if you link it to like your GMU account, it recognizes, oh, you're a George Mason student. Here's a whole collection of organizations and partnerships that George Mason has. So, it's like you get on Handshake because you will actually get to physically see the numerous connections that George Mason can offer you. 
CADIE: 
Yeah, for sure. 
EMMA: 
We did talk about the podcasting internship, which, this is a terrible segway,  
CADIE: 
It’s ok! 
EMMA: 
But kind of trying to transition into the next set of questions. This is a podcast. In order to get this job, we had to have some sort of experience with podcasting. Cadie, what's your background with podcasts?  
CADIE: 
So, you remember that film internship that I mentioned earlier? So, instead of doing a TV show, I decided to do podcasts. Honestly, I should have realized that I was always destined to be a Comm major and not a Films major way earlier than I actually did. 
So, I ran two different podcasts, the Peculiar Things podcast with my very good friend, Allegra. And that the tagline for that is where we discussed oddities, horror, and all things peculiar. So, we did episodes on like The Exorcist,and we did episodes on different creepypastas. 
So that was that podcast, right? We talked about a myriad of topics. I also love the word myriad.  
The other one that I did was called XYZ Dictionary. And that was where me, and my good friends, Melissa and Toni got together and we talked about different topics. And I am Gen Z, Melissa was Gen X, and Tony was Gen Y, hence the XYZ.  
And the dictionary part, each topic we covered, corresponded to a different letter in the dictionary. So, the goal was to eventually have like a huge catalog of different advice and multi-generational reflection on a bunch of different outlooks.  
And we got I think we have seven episodes with the internship because we recorded just for one semester. Because that was all we had the time for, unfortunately, but I loved those two projects. I look back on them very, very fondly. And I'm so excited to be here and doing yet another podcast.  
Emma, what about you?  
EMMA: 
My jump into the podcasting world only happened this year. 
I have been a listener, though, since I was 12.  
CADIE: 
Oh, yeah.  
EMMA: 
So, I've listened to podcasts for many, many years. 
I've kind of built my taste over the years, I came to Mason loving podcasting, and I want this to be a skill. I want this to be something that is meaningful, makes an impact, very similar to the shows that I love to listen to. I learned that George Mason actually has workshops and classes focused on radio and podcasting. 
So, this past spring, I took Podcasting and Radio Workshop 1 taught by Roger Smith. And that was a one-credit class. It really taught me the hands-on foundations of podcasting.
And I already had a little bit of understanding of sound because I done a lot of tech for theater and working with sound equipment and editing. But this was really neat because I was at the helm of getting to make my own podcast. I started a podcast called the Green and Gold Curtain that was tended to focus on showcasing the brilliance of the School of Theater of talking to people who were either affiliated with their work or even students and faculty in that program. 
CADIE: 
Very cool.  
EMMA: 
Then I learned about this podcast and or this this opportunity. And I will say guys, like when Cadie and I came on this project, this thing, it wasn't even a like a fetus. 
It wasn't a fetus. It was like a cell.  
CADIE: 
It was like it was the concept of conception. 
EMMA: 
Yes.  
CADIE: 
So we are a student success podcast. And I don't want that to come off as we must only talk about students who have experienced nothing but success in their entire life. 
And to be successful, you must be the best at whatever you do. That is not what I think of when I think of student success. When I think of student success, I think about you are achieving your goals, no matter how small or how mighty those goals may be. 
And we want to particularly highlight what resources have helped you achieve those goals along the way. And by resources, you know, we will have a specific episode highlighting on-campus resources, but that could be things like teachers, classes, your major, your education, but also your careers, internships, how you got those careers and internships. Anything that has helped you work towards your goals, whether that be academic, professional, personal, creative, et cetera, et cetera. That, to me, is student success. 
EMMA: 
Yeah. 
CADIE: 
What about you? 
EMMA:  
Yeah. You know, I echo everything that you've said. 
I feel like student success is not, I don't want to say temporary, but it's not always permanent. It's going to feel like it comes and goes. You know, I feel like we all have our highs and lows, especially in our education. 
You know, maybe we didn't get the grade we wanted. Maybe, you know, we weren't able to put in so much effort into a project or an essay that we wanted to, but you still did the thing. And I think that for me is what success is, is that you're still showing up or you're still trying to show up and do the best you can. That in so many ways to success. 
And then like, in additionally to, if we think about like our listenership and how you guys are college students and, you know, getting to college itself, not easy,  
CADIE: 
No! 
EMMA: 
Not easy! So already, yes, you may not know what you want to do in 10 years. I don't know what I want to do in five years. 
You may not have everything figured out, but you already have done so much with your life. Success is... I like to think of success as like a work in progress.  
CADIE: 
For sure. 
EMMA: 
I think that's my best definition of it.  
CADIE: 
And I think success and what that looks like changes for each and every person and it changes each and every day. To me, success yesterday meant finishing my homework in time. 
For me, success today means getting to be able to record with you. EMMA: 
Yeah. 
CADIE: 
And success tomorrow might look like something completely different. And that's okay.  
EMMA: 
Right. I know sometimes I feel this way where it's like success is what has is what drives me. 
But I drive my own success. If that makes sense.  
CADIE: 
Yes 
EMMA: 
I hate feeling like success is a bar that I have to reach. 
But I realized that I actually set the bar for my success. And so, there's so much, even if it doesn't feel like it sometimes, you have so much control. And I would say here at Mason, you have so much support to help you get in control of finding your own success. 
CADIE: 
100% because I can understand how you're in charge of your own destiny can feel really overwhelming for people.  
EMMA: 
Daunting. Oh my gosh, yeah.  
CADIE: 
And there are so many resources here that will help you with that. And you...   
It's nice because at the end of the day, you're the one who gets to call the final shot. There are people to help you to figure out what that shot should be.  
EMMA: 
Right. And speaking of, you know, taking your shot, what is one goal you are working towards this year? It could be academic, it could be professional, or even personal.  
CADIE: 
This is a really good question. And honestly, not one that I've been thinking about. 
This is a goal that I'm working towards this year, but is probably not a goal that I'm going to achieve for a very long time. And that's okay.  
EMMA: 
Yeah. 
CADIE: 
But working towards building a life that I can look at and genuinely be proud of. I spent a good amount of time in high school, and I don't want to come off as saying like my high school experience was awful, because it wasn't. It had its ups and downs, as I think everybody's did.  
But I spent a lot of time always rushing to get to the next thing or imagining what if my life could be better in this aspect, or this aspect, or this aspect, without ever really actively working towards it. And now that I'm in college, I feel like I have the agency to finally work towards it. 
I want to go do this thing. Great. How do I get there? I want to make these connections. 
Great. How do I make those connections? Just kind of working towards building a life that I can look back on in five to 10 years, where I'll be then I don't know, but one that I can genuinely be proud of. 
And I am proud of my high school life. But one where I no longer feel the need to just daydream about the life that I can build one day I want to actually start building that life.  
EMMA: 
Yeah, I hear you. 
There's one goal I'm working towards this year is, and I will say this has been a goal I've had for pretty much the entirety of my college career. And I really resonate with what you said about you're working towards something, but you may not achieve it in a year. And that's okay. 
If one thing I'm working towards is just finding clarity and what I want to do and where I want to go. That's partly why I take on so many opportunities and commitments and responsibilities, all of which I'm grateful for. That'sanother sub goal. 
And for myself of learning how to continuously balance the academic, the professional and personal, because it's all part of who I am. And I mean, and all of them are a part of the equation that equate to success for me.
CADIE: 
For sure. 
EMMA: 
Of building towards feeling happy and fulfilled in what I'm doing and the impact I'm making. And so yeah, that's one goal I have this year of just finding clarity and all the opportunities I'm doing, of where do I see myself? Just continuing to give myself the grace to learn about myself. 
CADIE: 
Yeah, for sure. And on that note, our final question for this interview segment. And this will be the final question for all of our interviewees. What's one piece of advice you'd like our listeners to hear? 
EMMA: 
So many, but one is, the biggest one that I've really held to in my moments of indecision on uncertainty, is if you feel stuck, just keep moving somewhere. I really imagine my journey as like walking in a forest and it's foggy. And I know I'm on a path, 
I don't know where it's going, and sometimes there's crossroads, but I can either choose to stay amidst that fog and uncertainty, or I can keep moving forward. And every once in a while the fog will clear and I'll gain more clarity and it'll come back sometimes but...  
All that my life has just reinforced within me is if you're stuck, just keep moving. Because if you're stuck and you choose to stay stuck, it won't change. So just keep moving. 
What about for you?  
CADIE: 
If you want to do something, but you don't have anybody to do it with, do it alone. Be safe when you're taking in that advice. You know? 
But going abroad and traveling alone, traveling to different countries where I knew maybe three words of the language alone, it teaches you so many different things about yourself, and it'll be out of your comfort zone, and it will be uncomfortable to spend that much time with yourself, but...  
The only relationship that you know for sure that you're going to have for your entire life is the one you have with yourself. And doing things alone, especially if you're in college, away from home for the first time, is a great way to form and heal, honestly, that relationship with yourself. And it's a great way to discover different aspects of your personality and to be like, you know what? Yeah, no, I actually do really like doing this stuff alone. 
So if there's a new cafe that opened up, but nobody wants to go with you, go alone. If there's a concert in town, be safe, be safe, but if you're able to go alone safely, go alone. 
Don't let others stop you from achieving the goals and doing the things that you want to do. Now be safe.  
That's my big asterisk, because I am a young woman. And you know, going to a concert late at night in DC probably isn't the safest idea, unfortunately. But like, in a perfect world. 
EMMA: 
Right.  
CADIE: 
And again, if it's something like a cafe, an event, something where you know that you have built in things in place, go do it alone. 
EMMA: 
Yeah. Well, with that said,  
CADIE: 
Let's hear about some advice from some other people. Woo! Segway!  
EMMA: 
Segway! Bulletin board things. Okay, now play the music.  
CADIE: 
Don't skip this! This isn't an ad break! 
Emma: 
This is the Bulletin Board. In every episode, this is where we will announce upcoming events and opportunities in CHSS.  
Every so often, we will also have a correspondent piece where we will hear from experts on the topic we are covering that episode. Expect to hear from advisors, faculty, and campus resources.  
Lastly, the Bulletin will include special shout-outs to the entities that make this show possible. Speaking of,  
CADIE: 
Welcome to the Mason Innovation Exchange, also known as The MIX, George Mason University's marketplace, media lab, and entrepreneurship incubator. 
Located in Horizon Hall, Rooms 1408, 1410, and 2100, the Mix gives you access to cutting-edge tools like 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC routers, textiles, and electronics. We also offer pathways into advanced opportunities through our micro-credential courses in blimp prototyping, drone prototyping, robotics, and the NSF iCorps program for student entrepreneurs. 
The Mix is always collaborating with student RSOs, academic departments and courses and events for the Mason community. Open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., the MIX hosts rotating workshops to help you kickstart your creative ideas. Learn more at themix.gmu.edu or find us on Mason360 under the Mason Innovation Exchange. 
Explore your potential at the MIX. 
CADIE: 
So what exactly will this podcast look like? Every month we're going to highlight a different program with each program getting five episodes in total.  
EMMA: 
Our first episode, Major Matters, will discuss everything about the major including concentrations and minors. Cadie, what are you excited about when it comes to the Major Matters episodes?  
CADIE: 
You know, I'm really excited for the opportunity to learn all about programs that I know nothing about, especially when it comes to some of the really popular programs we have here in CHSS. So, like Psychology, I've only ever taken one Psychology class, and it wasn't here at Mason, so I know very little. Same thing for Crim. 
I've never taken a Crim class, but it fascinates me. It sounds so interesting. So, I'm really excited to learn more about those programs, and those are also our biggest programs here, but also the smaller programs that I don't know that much about. 
What does it look like to be an integrative or individualized studies student? What about you?  
EMMA: 
Same thing, truly. I mean, I'm grateful that in my work as a Patriot Leader this past summer, I got to work with CHSS for virtual advising registration and get to work with students from different departments. The biggest takeaway was how much I actually don't know about the College of Humanities and Social Sciences because, I mean, I know some things going on in the English department and the various concentrations and minors that we have, but there's so many departments and majors that people don't even know are a part of CHSS. 
I'm also just really excited for us to get to learn, along with our listeners, about what CHSS has to offer.  
CADIE: 
For sure, 100%.  
Our second episode type is the Resource Roundup, which it will focus primarily on a resource that, really all CHSS students should know about, but may be particularly helpful for students in a certain program. 
Emma, what are you excited about? What do we want to learn?  
EMMA: 
I just want to learn more about CHSS-focused SROs. For instance, I only just learned very recently that the English department has an honor society. How many other majors in the college have fraternities, and honor societies, and clubs, and organizations that I think students would really be interested in getting involved with? I think a common theme amongst a lot of RSOs and organizations... and just resources. I will also add resources. They're all very accepting of being welcoming to everyone. If you want to go to an event and you're an English major and you want to learn more about sociology, go ahead. 
That's what I'm picking up on, but I just don't know where to find those events and those opportunities.  
CADIE: 
No, I definitely agree and resonate with everything you said. This year, I joined PRRSA, which is the Public Relations Student Society of America. 
Very exciting, very cool, but I had no idea that existed until this year. Granted, they did a great job. They came straight into the Intro to PR class. 
It was like, “Hey, we exist. If this is a career path that you want to pursue, then you should join us because we are a great organization.”  
EMMA: 
Moving on, our third episode, Halls to Horizon, is where we share how to go from academic halls to your career on the horizon. In other words, this episode will talk about careers, internships, and anything professional.  
Cadie, what's something that you're looking forward to with our third set of episodes?  
CADIE: 
I think, and this isn't to say that our other types of episodes aren't important, but this one is so essential if you are a current college student because I think all of us can relate to feeling some sort of post-grad employment anxiety. I know I definitely feel that. 
I consistently feel like I am falling behind and that there's no way I'm ever going to get a job or internship, but that's not true.  
And I'm really excited to hear from students. We will hear actual student testimonies of, here's how I did this, here's how I got into the career I want, into the field I want, and here's how you can do it too. 
EMMA: 
Right.  
CADIE: 
So yeah, I think if there's any episodes of this podcast to listen to, you should listen to all of them.  
EMMA: 
Please. 
CADIE 
However, if you don't have that time, this is the one you really do not want to skip out on. 
EMMA: 
Yeah. I'll also add the third type of episode is where this podcast itself also becomes a resource to you because we plan to have a chess career-specific advisor, Rachel Lindsey, on with us as a correspondent of sorts who will be able to offer tips and advice and insight into whatever industry we're talking about that episode, which in many ways can also be applicable to what you, the listener, are studying or want to study or the industry you want to go into. And so, we hope it's a through line through every episode that you'll be able to take something away, no matter what major or club we're covering. 
Third type of episodes, Halls to Horizon, you want to tune in for that.  
CADIE: 
For sure. Then we have our fourth episode type, the Green and Gold Guidebook, where we will discuss a certain topic that may not fit with the other three. 
Expect topics like study tips, the transfer student experience, highlighting the BAM program, et cetera, et cetera. Emma, this is our kind of like wildcard topic.  
EMMA: 
It is.  
CADIE: 
What do you want to highlight? What are you excited about delving into?  
EMMA: 
Anything and everything, to be so for real. Whichever guest we have on, they're going to get to be with us to kind of steer what that conversation is going to be like. What is the topic of the episode? What do you feel qualified? What do you feel you have such passion to speak about and to give voice to? And I'll say Green and Gold Guidebook will be another episode type that I feel like will be applicable to a lot of people. 
CADIE: 
Yes. 
EMMA: 
And if it's not applicable to you, well, then it's a great opportunity to get to learn about some different perspectives that you may not be aware that are living and thriving here at Mason.  
CADIE: 
Yeah. For sure. No, I agree. 
I'm excited for the opportunity to kind of break from the format that we've had and talk about topics that our guest really wants to talk about and are really passionate about, because there might not be things that you and I think of as we go through this process. But there may be something that our guests bring up, and that is such a great idea and will be such a great opportunity for other CHSS students and other GMU students to learn about, to hear about.  
I'm also excited to highlight the BAM program because I think it's just a fantastic program, especially for people who want to go to grad school. 
So, that's my excitement. I really want to make it clear like, this podcast is for you guys. It is for you who is listening to this episode right now. 
If there is something that you feel like you want to know more about, if there is a resource, if there is a thing in your life that you feel needs clarity, like academic wise, then please let us know. The purpose of this podcast is to highlight student success, yes, but to also show others how to be a successful student and the help and resources that are here for you to be that successful student. And if we're not highlighting those resources and that help that you can get, then we're not doing our jobs correctly.  
EMMA: 
Yeah. Let us know.  
I will step up from that and say that if you want to take a step further than just letting us know, we'll have a form for you guys to fill out if you want to be a guest on the podcast and actually get to talk about what you're passionate about, what you feel needs to be shared to share your Mason story. And so, with that, going into our fifth episode type, which will be like a rotating spotlight episode that will also take place the....  
Cadie 
The fourth week. 
EMMA: 
So, in the fourth week of the month, you'll get two episodes. The fifth type will be a special spotlight episode highlighting the work of either a faculty member or an alumnus.  
CADIE: 
The fact that alumnus is the singular of that. 
EMMA: 
Yeah.  
CADIE 
Because I always hear it as alumni.  
EMMA: 
Right. 
CADIE: 
I just I never hear it as alumnus. But that's who that's who we're interviewing. We're interviewing somebody who used to go to GMU and don't anymore because they do fantastic work. 
And they're another great example of how you go from where you're at right now to somewhere where you want to be five years down the line.  
EMMA: 
Exactly. And so, this could be research-focused or career-focused. 
It's going to depend on who we have as guests. But I know that I'm just really excited to really hear from voices that either work here, and that'll be a really great opportunity for listeners to know what their faculty and staff are doing, because, you know, that's a great way of you hear a faculty member talk about something that they're working on or want to research... we'll ask them to leave their email in the episode and then reach out to them.   
Or we have an alum and you hear about the work that they're doing, you know, reach out to them. We're going to try and make sure that every guest they'll leave their contact information so you can always follow up and ask questions to the more experienced figures. 
CADIE: 
Yeah, for sure. I'm so excited to be able to sit down and interview with everybody who was once a part of CHSS or who is maybe a part of CHSS in a not-student way.  
EMMA: 
Yeah. Yeah.  
CADIE: 
For CHSS faculty, you know, because I think that is a great way for listeners to, again, hear about research opportunities, yes, but if faculty are shouting out their classes, then that might give you a good example of the classes you'd like to take, even if you're not in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.  
I know for Mason Core, you still got to take some humanities and social sciences classes.  
EMMA: 
Yes. 
CADIE: 
So really, everybody at GMU is a CHSS student.  
EMMA: 
Yes. Well said. 
CADIE: 
Thank you. Thank you.  
EMMA: 
Of course. 
CADIE: 
And speaking of those humanities and social sciences programs that everybody has to take.  
EMMA: 
Yeah.  
CADIE: 
For our very first season, we will be covering CHSS's wonderful psychology, criminology, and global affairs programs. 
If you want to be on the podcast, please, please, please email chsspod@gmu.edu, and we will send you the form to apply. I cannot emphasize this enough. You guys, the people who we have on make the podcast. 
EMMA: 
Right.  
CADIE: 
Emma and I are simply here to ask you questions.  
EMMA: 
Right. 
CADIE: 
This is your guys's podcast through us and through CHSS.  
EMMA: 
Yeah. From day one of building this podcast from the ground up, we knew that this would be student focused, student centered and steered by students. 
So when we tell you that you guys are a pillar for this podcast, it's no joke.  
CADIE: 
Exactly. And I say that because even if you're like, oh, well, I don't have any podcast experience or oh, I just I don't know if I'd be good at it. 
Doesn't matter. If you're passionate about what you're studying, come on the podcast. We'd love to have you. We'd love to talk with you.  
EMMA: 
Right. Even going further than having experience in being in podcasting, even if you're just starting here at Mason, if you're a transfer student, no matter what your background is, even if you just had a terrible semester, but you want to talk about how you've come back from it. 
That's a story that we'd love to highlight on the podcast. So it's like... 
CADIE: 
100 percent.  
EMMA: 
We just want you to come as you are, because that is already enough for us. 
CADIE: 
Exactly.  
EMMA: 
And so with that, I think we're ready to close out on episode zero.  
CADIE: 
I think we’re ready for the outro! Whooo yay! 
EMMA: 
Oh, my gosh! 
OK, so Cadie, you had to be here, but thank you for being here because....  
CADIE: 
Emma, you had to be here. But thank you for being here.  
EMMA: 
Listeners, thank you so much for listening to this episode of Chess Connection. 
CADIE: 
Hey, thank you for listening to this episode of Chess Connection. This podcast is hosted and written by Emma Howard and Cadie Junker. Our audio engineer is Dennis Gabitov. Our supervisor is Eleana Velasco. This podcast is produced by George Mason University's College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Undergraduate Academic Affairs. Special thanks to the Mason Innovation Exchange for their recording studio. 
The podcast could not happen without them. This project was developed in collaboration with Career Services and the On-Campus Internship Program. If you love the show and want to interact with more of our content, follow us on Instagram @chsspod or check out the CHSS website, where there is an ongoing library of our episodes. You can also be a potential guest on our podcast!  
EMMA: 
If you enjoyed the show and would like to express your support, there are a few things you can do: you can leave a review wherever you are listening to this podcast, you can help by word of mouth, either by telling someone directly who might be interested in the show, or posting about it on social media, tagging @chsspod. All these things help support the show, and we appreciate anyone who has done it or will do so in the future.  
Again, thank you for tuning into this episode. We hope you will tune into the next episode, where we are joined by Donesha George to discuss our Psychology program! 
But until then, stay curious... 
CADIE: 
Stay creative! 
BOTH: And stay connected. 

---

Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai.  

EMMA: 

Hello, welcome to CHSS Connection, a podcast where we interview different students about all things CHSS, from academics to careers to everything in between. This is a student success podcast for CHSS students by CHSSstudents. However, if you're not a CHSS student, welcome. 

We're so glad you're here. I'm Emma Howard.  

CADIE: 

I'm Cadie Junker. 

BOTH: 

And we're your hosts.  

CADIE: 

In this episode, we're discussing CHSS’ psychology program. Of course, we could not do this alone. 

So we are joined today by Donesha George. Donesha, thank you so much for joining us. How are you doing?  

DONESHA: 

Of course, thank you for having me. I'm actually doing good today.  

CADIE: 

Good, good. I'm so happy to hear that. 

We're going to go ahead and get into the first part of our interview. These are going to be more general questions that really are supposed to give our listeners a pretty good overview of the psych program, of course, drawing from your own experiences. Very first question for you, the classic. 

What is your class and major?  

DONESHA: 

Yes. So I am a clinical psychology major. I changed that over the summer and I just found out I was a senior not too long ago, so, shout out to me.  

CADIE: 

Ooooo. 

DONESHA: 

Yes, I am a senior, so I will be graduating in December 26th of fall.  

CADIE: 

Very cool. 

EMMA: 

Very exciting. Congratulations. 

DONESHA: 

 Thank you. 

EMMA: 

So tell us about your experience in the psychology program.  

DONESHA: 

My experience here at Mason honestly has been the best because I was a transfer student from a college in Harrisburg, Virginia, and our psych department was very small. It was about 10 students in the department for psychology. 

CADIE & EMMA: 

Whoa. 

DONESHA: 

Right. So, coming here was very different for me. I was able to learn a lot of new things. I had a lot of hands on experience. 

My favorite class I’ve taken here was therapeutic communication psychology. I learned a lot: how to communicate, how to be there for people, especially in the psychology realm. So more of like being there emotionally for them. 

I feel like taking that class has changed a lot for me. So yeah, psychology here was the best.  

I had opportunities to work in different places like clinical spaces. I got my certificate as a mental health aide.  

So yeah, psychology in this department has, I would say, opened up many doors for me to prove that psychology is more than just, you know, if I think, oh, you are able to read someone's mind. It's more than that. 

It's more just actually being, to me, I say as being an advocate for someone who struggles in mental health.  

CADIE: 

Yeah, for sure. That sounds like it was such a valuable experience, you know, switching over from a school with very few psych majors to a school where in the CHSS College, psychology is our biggest program here. 

Kind of on that, what drew you to major in psychology?  

DONESHA: 

Honestly, I always had a heart for people. I love communicating, right? I love listening. And those two together, I was like, hey, why not psychology? 

It's funny because my first psych class was in high school. It was AP psychology, and I struggled. It was so bad. I was like, too many terms, too many definitions. It was too much going on, but something really drawed me.  

And I think it was just understanding, when I  was an athlete, and knowing that a lot of us had dealt with mental health as a team, and not having people to really correctly understand what it's like to be an athlete and have mental health issues, and to not have anyone there to talk to you. So I felt like psychology would be a great fit for me. 

And I trust myself, even though I didn't have the best experience with my psych class, I knew just giving myself a chance to take a psych course again in college would definitely be better than my psych course that I had taken in high school.  

EMMA: 

As someone who also took AP psych, I really liked it, but I commiserate with you on the amount of just terms and busy work. Yeah, totally get that. 

CADIE: 

I did not take AP psych. I took a psych class over at a dual credit college, and I wish I'd taken AP psych instead because my professor, this is like one of the first college classes I ever took, by the way. I was still in high school, and my professor was a guy who showed up with a stained shirt. I never saw him in an unstained shirt. And I think I learned more about his familial drama than I did about psychology that year, because what he would try to do is he would try to teach us these concepts by relating it to his own life. 

But he would mention the concept very briefly and then go into a whole spiel about how like his brother is afraid of dogs or something like that. 

EMMA: 

 So he made his family like the case study for the class?  

CADIE: 

Yeah, essentially. 

EMMA: 

Donesha, can you tell us a bit about your concentration? Do you have a concentration? Did you say that? Am I making that up?  

DONESHA: 

Clinical psychology. 

EMMA: 

Okay, great.  

DONESHA: 

I mean, what can I say? I just added it this summer. I'm excited, like, very excited for it because I feel like clinical psychology is definitely going to give me much exposure in the clinical aspect versus when I was just a psych student. 

Well, psych major, it was just mostly focused on, I would say, again, like the therapeutic communication being more a field of therapy, right? Clinical, same thing, but you get to see how they take their notes. You get to see how they diagnose their patients. And that's something I'm definitely looking for with clinical psychology. So yeah.  

EMMA: 

What is something about your concentration that people may find surprising? I know you only  

just got to it this summer, but what's already sticking out to you?  

DONESHA: 

It's definitely the diagnosing part. I did not know as clinical psychology you had the opportunity to, well, just like a clinical psychologist, you have the opportunity to diagnose a client. 

I'm thinking it's just the same thing. You sit down, you talk with your patient and you just have that conversation, but you actually get to say, “Oh, this is what I want. This is what I want to diagnose this patient with.” 

And I feel like for me, that was like, yes, I definitely want to do this.  

CADIE: 

Can you tell us a little bit about the core classes that you've taken for psychology? I'm not entirely sure how it works for the program, but I know for COMM you have your core major courses, and then you have your concentration core, and then your concentration elective, and then your major electives. Specifically looking at that major core, what is that like for psych students?  

DONESHA: 

Yeah, I love how psychology is very broad because the core classes help students to figure out what path of psychology they want to take. 

The first basics is, well, there's two of them. There's Introduction to Psychology, which came to my mind, and Developmental. Introduction is basically the creator of psychology, right? You have the theories and different, you know, people who came up with those theories. 

Don't make me quote any names because I cannot remember, but that's mostly the classes that people had told me that's boring, but I kind of liked it. It helped me understand, oh yeah, psychology is a great thing. So yeah, you have Introduction. 

Developmental basically hops right into the lifespan of a human. Adolescence, adulthood was also my favorite one to understand the nature versus nurture. That was my favorite theory. 

So those two are definitely the basics for psychology. I was, I would count Social Psychology as the core as well, but that can also be an elective here at Mason, which I didn't know.  

Cognitive Psychology was more focused of different techniques of the brain. So, like your memory, your focus, different type of diseases of the brain. I like to pair Cognitive with Neuropsychology.  

Neuropsychology is mostly focused on the brain, but different parts of the brain. So you get to understand the structure. I would say if you're very big on anatomy, then you might consider Neuropsychology.  

But for me, I felt like it was too much focused on the brain and not really understanding what this had to do with, you know, me wanting to be in therapy. Well, of course you get to understand the parts, so it's helping you to better understand the person, but the lab part was a bit too much, you know, looking at different random parts of a sheet. It was just a lot for it to be Neuropsychology, right? 

 Social Psychology was good. It was mostly the broader part of understanding why people behave the way they do. 

I think that was the whole summary part of Social Psychology, nothing really big about it. Trying to think if there's anything else.  

Therapeutic communication, that wasn't a core, it was more like an elective that teaches you therapy, basically.  

You was the client or you was the therapist. Very fun class. I enjoyed myself. It could be a little bit nerve-wracking because it's your very first time and the professor's like, okay, I need someone to be a client, need someone to be a therapist, and now you're sitting there and asking people questions about their life. So, it was very nerve-wracking, but at the end of the day, like, I really enjoyed myself. 

So, it was just a lot of different cores and electives.  

EMMA: 

Yeah, I mean, I think you covered a really wide scope, and it certainly sounds like the core classes offer a really excellent trial run of sorts or taste testing, palate, appetizer, whatever, of the psych program. But yeah, sounds like you've taken a lot of a lot of classes. 

Going more into that, which professors do you recommend other psychology students take?  

DONESHA: 

I would say I haven't had any bad professors here at Mason, so that's a good thing. I really can't say a name on top of my head.  

EMMA: 

Okay. 

DONESHA: 

But I would say it's all how you make the class to be, right? Because again, there are bad professors, but some of them you really just have to grow with. And so far, my psych class here, all of them has been online. So I really haven't had that personal connection besides the Therapeutic Communication psych core, I mean, psych class. 

And even with her, she was the best teacher. I just don't remember her name.  

EMMA: 

Oh, that's okay. 

DONESHA: 

Yeah.  

CADIE: 

That's so real, actually. Going back to your classes, what is the best class that you've ever taken within the psych program?  

DONESHA: 

I would say therapeutic communication. 

EMMA: 

Yeah.  

DONESHA: 

That's not only because that was my only class in person. Research methods I haven't taken yet. 

But there's another thing, Data Analysis. That was another psych core class. It was fun, but it wasn't my best. 

And like Introduction in psych and other psych courses that I mentioned, I didn't really take here. I took my other school. So Therapeutic was my first class I've taken here at Mason, and I was in person, and it was the best. 

I liked how it was hands on. As soon as you got in there, we was already working. I was the therapist or I was the client. 

It was helpful to understand what it's like to be a therapist, what it's like to be a client. It was also helpful to build connections. As me being a transfer student, I was able to walk out the class knowing that this is something I want to do for the rest of my life. 

And I had people who also want to do the same thing as me. So it was definitely my best class.  

EMMA: 

That sounds really validating, to be quite honest. 

And it sticks out for me that does the psychology program offer a lot of like online or asynchronous classes?  

DONESHA: 

Oh, yes. I want to say the farther you go up in your year, they will offer you a lot of asynchronous or online courses. But for me, I would say majority of my psych core classes was online. 

EMMA: 

I love online classes. The English department does not.  

CADIE: 

Really?  

EMMA 

No! Okay. There's a handful and a lot of them are like in like the lower levels or some maybe like 302 or 308. Sorry, this is not the English episode. But yeah, no.  

Really wish they had more. Anyways, can you share a very memorable moment? I feel like it might be your therapy class. 

But that's what I'm calling my head. But can you share a memorable moment from one of your  

classes or a lesson that you have taken away from them?  

DONESHA: 

Yeah. So it was a first session to do their therapy, a client. This is Therapeutic Communication.  

And I remember all of us just being so nervous, because the goal was for us not to put our life problems out in the air, we had to pretend to be someone else. So, we could be a family member, we could be a friend, we could be anyone who we wanted. 

So, I remember, because recently in my past years, I did like acting and playing. So, I act as someone in my family. And I remember the girl who was my therapist, I caught her off guard because I started to cry. 

She just froze and looked at me. And I was like, “Aren’t you supposed to be my therapist?”  

And I just remember just like, she tried not to laugh. And she started laughing. 

I was like, “Are you my therapist?” And from there, I just realized like how fun the class could be. And I took away because after you know, we got done, we started talking, and she was like, I didn't know what to do. And it made me go back with my teacher. 

Well, my professor, she was saying, you know, “It's the point of doing this not to be perfect, right? It's just to do it. Because no one is perfect.” Basically what she was trying to say. And for some reason, you know, because this was my major, I just wanted to feel like I had it all together. 

But it was times where I would get a client, I had a friend and he hit me with a story that I really could not help him through.  

And I was just like, this class can only be hard when you just want to feel like you got it. And my professor made it known that you're not gonna get it until you take this class and you leave from this class. 

So yeah, those were the best memories. 

EMMA: 

That's a really good memory.  

CADIE: 

Well, I feel like that kind of shines a light on how important this class is too, because you're gonna have clients that cry in therapy, like that's probably actually gonna be a thing that you run into quite often. 

You're going to hear a lot of very hard stories or stories that like, just make you want to go, what? And I'm so grateful that Mason kind of gives you the opportunity to show that on your face to be in those moments where I don't know what to do in a safer environment, so that way, when you are put in front of a real client, and they start crying, then you know, you're not laughing. Because I can only imagine. 

DONESHA: 

That happened before. That's the way I respond when I'm nervous. I just laugh. 

CADIE: 

But on the same note, what's the best story that you have involving your major?  

DONESHA: 

That's actually a good question. It makes me just think back. All the psych courses I've taken over the years as being a psychology major. 

My best story about psychology, when I took the Developmental Case Study Psych, which was at my old school, we actually had to go out and be with kids. And I remember just being with this family and playing with the kids and everything. And I just felt like this was something for me. 

And the mom, she was so sweet. She made sure that we was comfortable there being with her kids and being able to use what I learned in class made me felt like I was actually doing something right. And I felt confident as being a psych major, because a lot of times, you know, a lot of people think that it's just not the best major. 

But me looking back at that moment with kids, I felt like it was everything to me. And it was the whole reason why I took psychology, because the daughter, she sat there and we had a whole conversation about her school, about her friends. And what she wanted to do. She had her life planned out before me. And she was like six. 

 So, to know that like, I'm just being, one, just being human, right. 

But, two, just also listening and just hearing her out made me felt like there's other people who also need that. And yeah, I would say that was probably my best story. Just being around those kids just made everything to me. 

It also made me switch my psych because for the longest I was a sports psychology, and I changed from sport to clinical. So yeah.  

EMMA: 

That sounds I mean, I know I keep saying this, but like, that just sounds really affirming and validating. And what a wonderful story, especially since it motivated you to change your concentration. 

Continuing on, and looking into your journey in the psychology program. I know Cadie, and I have alluded to this. It's a really big program. 

It's close to like taking up 50% of the students in CHSS. So they do, I'm sure that they do a lot of events. What's the best psychology event that you've been to?  

DONESHA: 

Well, probably, I'm gonna be honest, I didn't know we had a psychology event. 

EMMA: 

It's okay. It's okay.  

DONESHA: 

Now CHSS events is something different. 

CHSS has a lot of great events. I've been to majority all of them. But the best one is the back to school event that they have in the front. 

But psychology wise, I have not been to a psych event.  

CADIE: 

What about CHSS events? The back to school one?  

DONESHA: 

Oh, yes, that was my favorite. I like the tie-dye. 

The food is always great. And I love the connection because you get to meet people that's part of chess and always end up being the same major as you. That always happens to me all the time. 

EMMA: 

Oh, well, I bet cuz there's 2000 psych majors. I'm curious if I mean, because I also don't know what events psychology does. But as a psych student, what's an event that you would like to see your department do?  

DONESHA: 

Something in the career field for psychology. 

I had a talk with a student, and they was unsure about continuing psychology only because they felt like they couldn't get anywhere with their psych degree. And I hear a lot of students that talks about psychology like that saying, “I don't know where to go.” But for me, I love that psychology just has such a huge aspect to it, right? There's so many things and so many paths that you can take with psychology. 

So if the psych department had an event, it would probably be event hosted to explain the career paths of psychology. Like there's so much that you can do with just a psych degree and, you know, just the things that comeswith it, right? You're helping people. You're making connections. You're not only just diagnosing, like you're doing more than that. If they held an event like that, I feel like a lot of people would probably would not want to change their major, but want to pursue it and actually have a desire to do something with it.  

EMMA: 

Certainly. 

I feel like a lot of college students outside of the psych program also share that sentiment of wanting to learn more about what they could do with their major. And I'm going to take this quick moment to plug that CHSS also is going to have career and internship-focused episodes. 

We're going to have one dedicated to psychology. So that'll be episode three. Please tune in. 

CADIE: 

Yeah. I'm so grateful you brought up the word connection when talking about the CHSS Back to School event.  

EMMA: 

Perfect segue.  

CADIE: 

Because our very next question for you is what connections have you made within the psych program?  

DONESHA: 

So far, connection wise, mostly with just like job wise connections. 

I mean, I come across a lot of students and we're like, oh, we're both psych majors, but we haven't had that connection of like going past the stage of meet and greet with my job career base.  

I'm an RBT, if I haven't mentioned it, but yeah, I'm a Registered Behavior Technician. That's also part of the ABA side of psychology, Applied Behavior Analysis. 

And that was a great connection. The job is so great. I'm working with kids again, but this time it's kids on a spectrum, so with autism, but it's the best thing that ever happened to me working with them. I also was working in a clinic before for mental health. Again, I'm a mental health aide. 

I got certified for that.  

CADIE: 

Oooo, very cool, very cool. 

DONESHA: 

So I'm able to use that. So there's so many connections job wise that is, it sounds little, but it's just like, man, I'm a mental health aide, so something would happen, I can really use the skills that I worked for over the summer to, you know, put it to reality. So yeah, I would say those are the connections so far I made. 

I mean, I came across a lot of great people, professionals wise outside of school, but in the psychology major that also motivate me to do a lot with my degree. So yeah.  

EMMA: 

I will say, I think your accomplishments so far aren't small at all. 

They sound very impressive and very useful.  

CADIE: 

I think that mental health support is so invaluable and so important in our world. I'm sure this is no news to you being a Clinical Psych major and concentration, but Gen Z, we do have disproportionately higher rates of depression and anxiety than previous generations, or at least reported rates because of the opinion that we're probably seeing higher reports because it has been less stigmatized, which is a good thing. 

And I'm so grateful that Mason sets you up for success. So that way, you know, whether it's through the classes that you're taking through your Therapeutic Communications class or through the internships that you have, that you're getting this experience and you're able to help people, I just think that that is so cool that you're able to do that even before you graduate, because honestly, I think all of us need a little bit of help.  

I'm of the opinion that everybody should go to therapy at some point in their lives.  

DONESHA & EMMA:  

Yes. 

CADIE: 

Whether or not you have some mental illness, just go. 

Because you probably do have something that's weighing on you, something that's stressing you, something that you need advice in. That's just my little soapbox, as my mother so lovingly calls it though.  

EMMA: 

Just as Cadie says that therapy is a resource that everyone should use, what is one resource you think every psychology student should use?  

DONESHA: 

I would say a mentor because therapy is great and I tell people to use it, you know, use it all the time. But sometimes a lot of people have a hard time finding that right match and it takes longer than expected. 

So having a mentor, those two are definitely not the same. You have someone like in therapy, someone is actually sitting down and talking to you and you come whenever you see them, right? Let's say you want to see them once a week, twice a week, who knows. 

With a mentor, they're there all the time, 24-7. They help you career-wise, they help you, you know, mental-wise, they just help you with anything that you need help on. And I have a mentor and she's been great to me. 

So for psych students, you know, who's probably taking therapy or not considering therapy, I would definitely consider mentorship.  

EMMA: 

I think some students might possibly struggle with finding like a mentor and differentiating that between a professor or an advisor. What tips do you recommend for students to locate a mentor that is right for them and maximize that resource?  

DONESHA: 

Yeah, of course. 

So the first thing what helped me was understanding that a mentor, you know, they don't need special license, they don't need a special degree. You just need to be able to trust this person with your life, right?  

You want to be able to know you can learn from this person because many times, mentors come in different ways. Someone might be a mentor, they might be younger than you, right? They might be a year younger than you, and you might be older than them. But because of what they're bringing to the table, they have so much wisdom, they know everything, they're able to help you out.  

The second thing I would say is, you know, don't rush it because it takes time to find the right mentor. A lot of times you find someone, and you ask them to mentor you and they be like, well, it's just too much work. 

That person is not a mentor, right?  

When you go to someone, you ask them to be their mentor, the very first thing is ask, you know, oh my goodness, thank you because you're trusting them with your life, basically. And I feel like a mentor is just someone that you can really trust with everything because there's going to be moments you're going to have to be vulnerable. 

 Again, they're not therapists because you're going to be vulnerable with them, and they're going to be like, well, I recommend you to go to therapy, right? But they're just going to appreciate the fact that you chose them to help you and join you. 

And the last thing, of course, you want to find someone who's kind of walking in the same shoes as you are, which again could be hard. That's why I say it's a long process to find the right person because you don't want to find someone who's in a completely other world and you're trying to, you know, have them mentor you. So you definitely want to find someone who's been in your shoes before, you know, they've been through college, they've been, they don't have to be through the same major, but they've been exposed to the same exact lifestyle you are currently walking in. 

I feel like that's the best takeaway when it comes to finding a mentor.  

EMMA: 

Certainly. And I think that's the best way to close on act one. 

So now we're going to go to our bulletin board where we're going to make some chess announcements, do some shout outs and share some resources.  

CADIE: 

We're also going to hear from Dr. Mike Hurley.  

EMMA: 

Correct. 

TRANSITION MUSIC PLAYS 

CADIE: 

Don't skip this. This isn't an ad break.  

EMMA: 

This is the bulletin board. 

In every episode, this is where we will announce upcoming events and opportunities in chess, hear from correspondents and give shout outs to the resources that make this podcast possible.  

DR. HURLEY: 

My name is Michael Hurley. I am an associate professor in the psychology department at George Mason. 

My email address is m-h-u-r-l-e-y-2 at gmu.edu.  

The psychology department is located in David King Hall on the second floor, the main floor of the building. The advising office is in room 2086 of David King Hall, and the faculty offices are mostly on the second floor, but there are additional faculty offices upstairs on the third floor.  

In terms of a summary of the psychology program, we only have one major, which is psychology in our department, and we have several majors- excuse me, minors, and concentrations. 

The minors that we have are in Brain, Body and Behavior, Clinical Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Forensic Psychology, Health Psychology, Industrial Organizational Psychology, and then we have our General Psychology minor, which does not focus in on a specific area.  

We also have concentrations and those concentrations are Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Behavioral Neuroscience, Developmental Psychology, Educational Psychology, Forensic Psychology, Health Psychology, Human Factors Psychology, and Work and Organizational Psychology.  

Students can reach out to me by email or phone. Email messages for me should go to the Undergraduate Advising Office at UGPSYC at gmu.edu. That's UGPSYC, U-G-P-S-Y-C, at gmu.edu. The main phone number to the psychology department is 703-993-1384. So those are the best ways to reach me here in the department. 

And then other things to know about our undergraduate program in psychology, or the psych department, is that we have several graduate programs. In addition to our undergraduate program, we have graduate programs in Clinical Psychology, Applied Developmental Psychology, Human Factors Psychology, Industrial Organizational Psychology, and Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience.  

In the undergraduate program, oh, and by the way, in those graduate programs, the Clinical Psych program is only a Ph.D. program, but the other four programs all have both master's degree programs and Ph.D. programs. 

And then at the undergraduate program, we have an honors, psychology Honors program, for students, particularly for students who are interested in graduate school. That program is a really great opportunity. And we also have a chapter of PSYCHI, the International Honor Society for Students in Psychology. 

And we also, because of our graduate programs and our graduate students and faculty who do research, there are opportunities for undergraduates who would like to get research experience to be able to do that while they are working on their undergraduate degree in psychology.  

EMMA: 

The GMU Psychology Club is a student-run club open to all majors. It's a place to grow your knowledge of psychology while meeting others who share a similar passion for the field. 

For more information, contact Dr. Mike Hurley or visit their Mason 360 page.  

George Mason's Counseling and Psychological Services offers free, confidential mental health support to enrolled students, both in person and online. Whether you are seeking short-term counseling or need assistance in connecting to community providers, CAPS can help. 

They are open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, 9 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. and on Wednesdays from 12.30 to 4.30 p.m. Stop by Sub 1, Suite 3129 or call 703-993-2380 to get started.  

CADIE: 

And welcome back. We are now going to enter into our Act 2, which is going to be a little bit deeper, nothing too serious, but these questions will draw even more from your thoughts, your motivations behind your experiences within the psychology program here at Mason. 

And our very first question for you is kind of a two-in-one, but you have already sort of answered the first part.  

DONESHA: 

Okay! 

CADIE: 

Why did you choose psychology? And what was that experience of choosing your major like for you?  

DONESHA: 

Yeah, again, I chose psychology because of just my personality. Let's just go with that. 

I just love surrounding myself by people. I love helping people and being there for people, especially when I was an athlete. Many times having that leadership role of supporting my teammates, talking to them when they need someone to talk to, really plays a role of the psych. 

But I feel like psychology helped deepen my understanding with understanding the process of someone emotionally. Many times I was speaking to people, I wasn't emotionally there for them. With being a psych major now, I'm mostly there for people. 

And I would say choosing a major, it wasn't hard. My very first time in college, I was a sports and rec and psychology as the minor. But I feel like understanding what I really, truly want to do with my psych was the hardest part. 

Because again, there's so much that you can do with psychology. I feel like as long as I'm doing something with people, like helping them, talking to them, that's all that really matters. So, I wouldn't say it's like the reason why I gave up sports psychology, only because I wanted to be somewhere in the sports field. 

I realized there was a lack with people being there for athletes in times that they need someone. So my focus is, oh, I want to be this person.  

I'm really good for that. I see a problem, I'm automatically going to put myself as like a savior type aspect. Like, oh, I got to do this.  

But I feel like as I got older and transitioned from the private school to public, and had my very first experience where I pretend I was a therapist and having clients every other day in class made me realize maybe I can get an athlete walk in into a center where I am a therapist for them. 

So let me focus more on that aspect. And I think from there, that's where everything started to change for me for psychology.  

EMMA: 

For students who are maybe still grappling with what major they want to go in, what factors do you recommend that they maybe keep in mind? You talked about, well, what do you want to do? What industry do you see yourself in? That's a factor. Are there any others that you recommend that others keep in mind that you kept in mind?  

DONESHA: 

Oh, yeah. My private school, I had a professor who made us write a paper about having a passion and working in that passion for the rest of your life or just having a job and just wanting to make money from that job. And what made me take away from writing that paper was knowing that if I want to spend the rest of my life doing something, it has to be something I'm passionate in. 

And that's what helped me make my decision for psychology and what I wanted to do in my major.  

I'm very passionate with people, so my advice for people who's having a hard time looking for what they want to do in life as far as job and major-wise, just go after something you know you're passionate about, something that you're going to wake up and you're going to be glad you chose to stick with this job because many times we're working jobs and we're like, man, I got to go in here. But, you know, working somewhere that you know this is something that you want to do, like no questions pundit to it, like this is something that you really want to do. 

So I feel like that's what's going to help you make that decision for that major, that decision for what you want to do when you get that major degree.  

I feel like many times we overthink the process. I know me, I overthink this so much because I was so focused on everything else, X, Y, and Z. How am I going to do this? How am I going to pay this? But the real question is how am I going to stay in a job that I don't like, right? If I am pursuing something that deep down I know I don't want to pursue. 

So my best advice is definitely finding that major or finding a field that when you are passionate to, it fits your personality. You can't be somewhere and you can't be yourself, right? You have to be able to be yourself in a field that authenticity is good. Nothing can change it because that's something you love to do. 

CADIE: 

I find it really fascinating that your reasoning for going into psychology and my reasoning for going into comms is actually very, very similar.  

That like, humanity element of I love people, I love talking to people, I love listening to people. How do I study that?  

So, I just think that's so cool that you can have the similar motivations and choose two completely different life paths. It really does boil down to like you're saying, what's a job that maybe you don't love every single day of the week, but a job that you can look at and genuinely be happy with and glad that you're doing.  

EMMA: 

Moving on, kind of coming back to George Mason itself and your transition here a little bit. I know you've talked about your experience at your previous school and it sounds like it's been very rewarding, but when you were finishing up there or when you were looking to, I know we've talked, sorry, Donesha and I have worked together in another position. I remember we had this conversation about, did you get your associates at Mary Washington or?  

DONESHA: 

No.  

EMMA:

No, you left. 

DONESHA: 

I just left.  

EMMA: 

Okay.  

DONESHA: 

Yeah. 

EMMA: 

Why did you choose to come here at Mason versus another school to pursue psychology? 

DONESHA: 

Oh, well, my sister came here and I remember visiting the campus and how big it was and a lot of activities was going on. You see a lot of orgs on campus. So that was the first thing that caught my eye. 

Then it was a little birdie seeing how the psychology department was the best department here at Mason. And I was very determined to like, yes, this is what I need. I need something to, you know, match my energy because that's how I am as a person with anything, I just need something to match me. And I feel like being at my psych department at my old school, pretty much wasn't matching it. Like it felt like more of like take the classes and graduate. 

And I need something more, right? I need experience. I need shadowing. I just need something. 

So hearing that Mason had a good psych department, I did my research and it looked really good. It looked great. And I trust my gut. I would say, you know, this is something I want to do.  

It's going to be different going from a private to a public school. But I made it work and it was the best decision. 

EMMA: 

Sounds like it was.  

DONESHA: 

Yeah.  

CADIE: 

It sounds like part of the reason that you left your old school was for the variety of opportunities here at Mason that kind of goes away even from your traditional coursework. 

On that note, have you done research, internships, clubs tied to clinical psychology? And if you have, what have those experiences looked like?  

DONESHA: 

Yeah. So, I've done a lot. I'm actually still doing research. This is tied in because though I'm a clinical psych, I'm also in the pre-med track.  

CADIE: 

Oh, very cool.  

DONESHA: 

Thank you. 

So I had an opportunity to do research on holistic medicine for depression and anxiety. And I had a chance to present that at a medical school, UVA.  

EMMA: 

Oh, wow. 

DONESHA: 

Yeah. And because in psychology you learn to understand the difference between someone who has mental health issues and someone who's mentally ill, right?  

CADIE: 

Yeah.  

DONESHA: 

And a lot of times mental health, especially in health care, is looked as a one-size-fits-all. 

And I had a chance many times to go to conferences to speak on behalf of students at school and what we need here for people who struggle a lot. I recently just went to a conference that was in Richmond, and they're trying their best to lay a foundation for students to have what they need because many times it feels like mental health is more of like a push, like, here you go, you got your resources now. Go on about your day. More than understanding that this is something that people face every day, right?  

So, I had plenty of opportunities to sit down, advocate on behalf of mental health and athletes, first-year students in college. I know my paper is about first-year students in college, and experiencing depression and anxiety for the first time. I also did research in understanding depression and women's health and understanding how depression doesn't typically can come on to a person just naturally. 

That's the difference of me dividing someone who's mentally ill and someone who just had mental health issues. Sometimes someone is going through the lack of vitamins. So I did research on vitamin D deficiency, and side effects is depression in women. 

I also did different things that is towards women's health with mental health. I did so much with that because of my psych major and understanding what it's like to know the difference between, oh, this person is dealing with mental health issues versus this person is mentally ill, right? They need something.  

And also looking at it as the holistic outside view because a lot of times in health care, there's no alternative for someone, for a person who wants to take care of themselves because sometimes someone who's facing mental health, they just need a routine. They just need something instead of just constantly misleading them with medication. So my paper was also about that.  

CADIE: 

Yeah, that's so valuable. 

Again, this is a topic that I'm very passionate about. I've had a lot of experience, a lot of firsthand experience with mental health.  

And to me, it angers me the way that we treat mental health support as, well, at least we offer it. 

What do you mean anxiety and depression still happen? What do you mean? You're on antidepressants. What do you mean you still go through depressive episodes? And I hate how I know people where they were put on antidepressants and then that didn't work for them.  

And then they tried therapy, and the therapist just wasn't a match, which does happen. They weren't willing to go again, try and find somebody who might be a better match.  

What do you do then? I feel like, as much as mental health has become destigmatized, and that's a good thing, and as much as it is becoming more of a norm to be like, oh, yeah, I go to therapy, or oh, yeah, I have these meds, that's still the only two options we sort of have. 

So shining a light on more options and other coping mechanisms I think is so, so important. 

EMMA: 

It sounds like, I mean, I know we've already talked about it a lot throughout this episode, but just to go a little deeper, you've had a lot of really valuable and memorable experiences and opportunities outside of the classroom.  

DONESHA: 

Yeah. 

EMMA: 

Specifically here at GMU, outside of the classroom, what is one of the most valuable experiences you've had as a psych major?  

DONESHA: 

I would say definitely, outside of the classroom experience or outside of Mason, was advocating for mental health and being able to do that correctly. A lot of times people advocate, and they're not doing it right. But sitting in those classrooms and being able to know and understand different parts of mental health and different parts of the brain and different parts of why a behavior is happening for my person had helped me go out and advocate in a way that, one, of course, like a lot of people sleep on psychology thinking, you know, psychology is me understanding the brain. 

But now, no, psychology has helped me understand that, oh, if someone is having issues, you know, they're not ill, they just need X, Y, and Z, right? Or someone who's mentally ill, what is something that we can do for this person? And I feel like just having the chance to advocate was the biggest thing I took away from my experiences. And I think it pushed me. It made me draw even more close to my major because now half of my research opportunities is around my major. It's not outside.  

It's always something with behavior, something with mental health, it's something with just like women's health, of course, the pre-med side. But I feel like it helped me to be more confident knowing that my major is great. So, yeah.  

EMMA; 

I appreciate how you highlighted that there is good advocacy and then there's harmful advocacy. And I think that a lot of people do very well from taking a moment to learn about... because I think it's great that so many individuals and groups have the willingness and the desire to advocate for others, but especially if you're coming from an outside perspective or a beginner's mindset, it's good to take those educational opportunities to learn how to advocate effectively.  

CADIE: 

Yeah.  

You spoke about how your research really encompasses what you want to do. 

It's in your career field. And on that note, what research would you like to contribute to the field of psychology?  

DONESHA: 

The research I'm doing now, mental health and academics, is so good. It's so good, you guys. 

It helped me as a person because it goes back to the advocacy, like the way how I advocate for people is going off of people experiences. That's what helped me to advocate. And recently, my fall semester, I just had a rough patch because it was my first year here at Mason. 

It was hard for me to balance going straight to private, public. Trust me, it is different. To me, it might be so much different. 

From there, I watched my grades slip, and it made me want to do a study on it because a lot of times you will see someone's grades slipping. You just think this person just don't know anything or they got a lot of stuff going on at home. But sometimes it's more than what you think it is, right? There's your social factors, your environmental factors, it's the changes of life, it's you being, you know, I like to call a premature adult, for the very first time. 

So my research is basically focusing on what mental health does to incoming students and their academics. Comparing it from the first day, first start on campus, versus after midterms or, you know, after the semesters and how a lot of times using resources the wrong way can affect them. And I go in talking about how the over-reliance of medication can affect the patient. 

You know, it's nothing wrong. I don't want people to come and think I'm bashing medicine. There's nothing wrong with medicine, but sometimes it can be used wrongfully. And sometimes medicine just numbs the symptoms. It doesn't really correct or it doesn't really change the actual thing that's wrong with the person.  

So, my paper focused more not to bash anyone, but just focused more of how can we make it correctly? How can we understand the difference between a student who just experienced mental health for the first time, depression for the first time, anxiety for the first time, going to therapy and saying, “Hey, this is my first time experiencing these symptoms, what can I do?” Versus someone who has chronic depression. 

Because at the end of the day, who would you give the medicine to? Would you give it to a student who just experienced this stuff for the first time? Maybe they need to build a routine. “Hey, let's try X, Y, and Z. Let's try doing this,” instead of just saying, “Okay, let me put you on these medications.”  

Because now the student got a lot to worry about. They got to wake up early, take their medicine. They got to study. They have to do X, Y, and Z. Versus someone who actually suffers from chronic depression. 

I think that's probably one of my best papers I would like to push for psychology is to understand mental health and academics.  

CADIE: 

Yeah, and also understanding that once you are put on that medicine, that doesn't work for everybody. What do we do then? What coping mechanisms do we use to help and to aid? Because unfortunately a lot of people with chronic depression, chronic anxiety, the reason why it's chronic is that it cannot be healed. 

DONESHA: 

Right, yeah. 

But it can be helped, and it can be aided, and there can be coping mechanisms so that way when you are going under a depressive episode, when you are having an anxiety attack, you're able to pinpoint these are thoughts that I am indeed having, but they are not valid thoughts about myself. They are not good examples of who I am, of what people think about me, of what life is, what are grounding techniques that you can use, things like that.  

Sorry, I'm wondering how vulnerable do I be on episode one? This is episode one. 

DONESHA:: 

Yeah, I'm the same way. Me and mental health, it's like starting a fire. Once you put wood in, I'm just going to keep burning, okay? It's just going to be that way. 

EMMA: 

I will add some of my thoughts, because I'm also in therapy, and I've been on that journey for a while, I remembered one of my psychiatrists a couple of years ago was, because I will say, I think if you're starting this journey of mental health and trying to get a grasp on yours, it can be easy to fall into the idea that medicine is a catch-all, and it's like, we'll just fix everything, right?  

I remember my psychiatrist was saying, no, it can help, but you'll still have this diagnosis. You'll still have these things to deal with.  

And that's why, Cadie, like you were saying, it's important, and like you were saying as well, it's important to have these other resources and strategies to cope with mental health.  

You know what? We've had so many tangents on this podcast so far, or we will as listeners, we'll go on to listen, but this could be a Global Gateway podcast, this could be a psychology podcast. This is fantastic. 

CADIE: 

I just want to say to anybody who is listening who may have struggled with mental health, have mental health issues, have been diagnosed with a mental health illness, you are valid, you are loved, and please take up space. 

DONESHA: 

Yes. Take up space. 

You're not making an excuse.  

CADIE: 

Yeah, if the reason why you're unable to do something is your depression or your anxiety or whatever else it may be, because depression and anxiety are not the only mental health issues that exist. It is not an all-encompassing list. 

I want to make that very clear. They are some of the most common, and they are the two that get thrown around a lot, but if your mental health is the genuine reason why you're unable to do something, then it is not necessarily an excuse.  

DONESHA: 

Right. 

CADIE: 

Now, if you are harming another person, then that is something you need to apologize for. Again, we're going back to what are the coping mechanisms, what are the things that we can do to try and aid this, to try and help this, so that way I am not harming people again. But also understand that you are not a terrible person because you are going through these things. 

DONESHA: 

Right.  

CADIE: 

I think I'm done with my soapbox. I might get back on it later. 

DONESHA: 

I'm going to start saying that “I'm done with my soapbox.” 

EMMA: 

Before we go to the next question, I do also want to add, and Donesha, please join me in this patriot leader mindset, but George Mason does have a lot of resources to help students with their mental health, or even because there's counseling and psychological services, or CAPS, but we also have, if you're struggling with your academics and you need help with some resources, you can go to Success Coaching. They take a very holistic view in their approach. 

You can always talk to your advisor. If you have a mentor here out on campus, reach out to them. There are a lot of resources and individuals here who are more than happy to help you. 

Continuing on, Donesha, what are some common misconceptions about psychology that people have?  

DONESHA: 

That's a great question, because honestly, I could go all night about it.  

EMMA: 

You can go on your soapbox.  

DONESHA: 

Yes, I can go on my soapbox. 

The most popular one is psychology, you don't make money in it. That's the most famous one I heard, I've seen on TikTok, social media. You would go through the comments, they're like, oh, psychology is a bad major, can't do nothing with it, can't get nowhere with it. 

They would say, I mean, at least you have, like you have to get a master's. Well, of course, of course you want to, probably want to pursue a higher education, but I feel like that was the biggest thing I took away from it. Other, you know, places or words and things people talk about psychology was saying how it's really nothing you can do in psych. 

That was another thing, but all of it is a lie.  

I know a lot of people who's making great money with their psych degree. I know a lot of people who've done a lot of things having a psych degree, but those are my most famous takeaways because I know sometimes it did trouble me. I was like, dang, I'm going to get this degree and then I'm going to live in a box.  

It made me very upset, but I wouldn't trade it for a world. So I was like, this degree is going to do something because there's a lot. 

I tell people all the time, I always tell people there's so much you can do. You get your PhD.  

There's like a psychology doctor. There's like, they call it like psyche. You can be a clinical psychologist. You can work in professional care. 

And so like the marketplace as a psych major, you could go farther and pursue medicine. Like I'm doing, hey, MD in psychology. Yes. 

You could do something in ABA. Also I'm doing as a part-time job. They make great money, RBT. 

You can do so much. And those are just like the little things, you know, there's a lot that you can do in psychology. You got ABA. You’ve got, what is it? I can't think of the top of my head, but Neuropsychology, Cognitive Psychology, there it goes. 

You can work more with understanding different techniques of the brain and the matter. So, I would just tell people who's a psych major, don't feel like psychology is the worst major ever or there's nothing there to do in psych. There's so much you can do. 

You just have to look at psychology in a broader concept. That's what I do. Never keep it small because there's so much you can do in psychology. 

EMMA: 

Yeah.  

That brings to mind one of my friends at Nova, before I transferred to Mason, she was also a psychology student, but she was getting, she wanted to get her BA in psychology. And she actually wanted to go into like the FBI or go in, because it made me think how like there's also like organizations and companies. 

There's like, isn't there like Organizational Psychology?  

DONESHA: 

That's what I was trying to mention when I said a market. So yeah, Organizational Psychology, people that works and like they could do health professions. They could do anywhere, you know, helps to bring everyone together. 

That's what I like to call it. They're more like the glue for the pieces.  

EMMA: 

But you're right. 

There is so much. I want to ask you the field of psychology as broad as it is, what do you think it can do to change people's minds and the misconceptions that they hold?  

DONESHA: 

I would say just more advocating about what psychology is. A lot of times where there's no advocating for something, a lot of people will start to put their opinions on it and start to think that this is something when it's not. 

You can ask someone, you know, what they know about psychology and some of them probably say, well, I know that there's therapy. They're like, you could be a counselor, right? They probably don't know about organizational, probably won't know about a psyche. I didn't know about it till I did my research. 

Or you would hear people say, you know, a lot of times they get a PhD, but sometimes they just, you know, fall around those two categories. But if psychology start to advocate itself about these are different jobs that you can do having a psych major. There's a lot of things that you can do in the process of being a psych major. 

You don't always have to be a therapist for a psych degree. You can do so much more.  

CADIE 

For students who are interested in learning more about the psych program and its offerings, what do you recommend that they do?  

DONESHA: 

Definitely reach out. 

I tell people as hard as it might sound, I know sometimes that it's hard to talk and build connections, but that was the only way for me to make it to where I am now was networking and connections. 

Doing my own research too, sometimes it's hard to depend on people because everyone is doing something right. So being your own guinea pig, trying it and testing it, researching and understanding what psychology can bring to you and what can it help you with, right? I will definitely recommend for students to try, but it's just connections for me. Going out, building connections, asking questions, don't be afraid to ask those questions, would definitely help you to know more about your major. 

EMMA: 

Okay, I know we've asked this question in like it's five different variations and maybe that's a thing Cadie and I need to revisit with script, but what has been your most fruitful experience in the psych program?  

DONESHA: 

It's okay, I'm trying to think of other experiences. Okay, so my most, I did, I mentioned research, I'm mentioned the kids and development, I'm mention my RBT job. Okay, I never mentioned about my mental health aid. 

EMMA: 

Oh yeah! 

CADIE: 

Yeah! 

DONESHA: 

Som I am right now currently applying to be an EMT. I'm waiting to get my fingerprints and all paperwork done, but one thing I mentioned to the chief there, I told him that I had my mental health aid, and he mentioned a lot of times how as being an EMT, you experience so much traumatically when it comes to just being out on the road and helping people. And he looked back at me he said that's where a mental health aid would come in, to be able to help and sit down and talk to people and walk it through. 

And I feel like that was one experience for me. I was like, yes, I get to use my certificate.  

Other times is when I'm talking with people around me, my job as a peer academic coach here. I know sometimes we're not allowed to go too far with our clients, but I always tell my clients that I'm here for you to help you find a balance between academics and your well-being. I don't say mental health, I just say well-being. Because it's definitely important to know that you matter and to know that you're not in college by yourself. 

I feel like having that certificate has made me feel legal to now address a situation with a person and not feeling like I'm overstepping. Unless I have permission, it's all about asking before doing. But yeah, my mental health aid certificate has played a tremendous role with now kind of being there and being able to talk to people and help them through whatever they're going through. 

CADIE: 

Yeah, absolutely.  

Donesha, I can't believe that I'm even saying this because this time has flown by so fast, but we've come to our very last question. And we like to ask all of our guests the same final question. 

And as you are the first guest, you're the first one to hear it. Our question is, what advice would you give for our listeners, specifically any freshmen who are majoring or minoring in the psych department right now?  

DONESHA: 

Wow, nice question.  

CADIE: 

Thank you, thank you. 

DONESHA: 

I guess to make it short and sweet, just know that your journey is always going to look different from others. 

Your path is your path. Your walk is your walk. You don't have to feel like you have to rush or run when you see someone else running. 

You can wait and you can do it at your own pace. Didn't want to make that rhyme, but it's the truth. I learned that the more I looked at other people's lives, the more I got lost in mine. 

But the more I stay on track of my own life, the more I started to figure out things that I want to do. And I started to feel confident in the rooms and places and jobs because now I'm not doing this for other people, or I'm not doing this to feel accepted by the world, but I'm doing this because I chose to do it. So my advice is just whatever you want to do, be happy if you like doing it and your journey is yours. 

 

EMMA: 

Thank you for saying that. I think that is very good advice to share and very good advice to close out our, my goodness, our very first episode, official episode. So thank you, Donesha, for joining us. 

 

DONESHA: 

Of course. Thank you for having me.  

 

EMMA: 

You offered incredible insight and you've just been lovely to talk to. 

 

Is there anything you would like to shout out or promote? Anyone you'd like to shout out or promote? Where can listeners find you on social media or in CHSS?  

 

 

 

 

DONESHA: 

Oh, yeah. Well, shout out to my professor at Therapeutic Communication. Because of you, I know how to sit down and not laugh in a client's face when they're telling me about their problems. 

 

Shout out to my Patriot leaders over the summer.  

 

Yes, I was able to break my shell. I'm not introverted. I'm actually, what is it? Extroverted. Yeah. You can follow me on my socials is love Donesha. 

 

Just simple. Love Donesha. It's two extra E's for love. 

 

And then it's just Donesha, D-O-N-E-S-H-A. TikTok is the same thing. Love Denisha. 

 

EMMA: 

Do you have a LinkedIn?  

 

DONESHA: 

Oh, my LinkedIn? Yes. Please follow me on LinkedIn. It's Donesha George. 

 

So D-O-N-E-S-H-A and George, G-E-O-R-G-E.  

 

EMMA: 

All right. Well, once again, Donesha, thanks for being here. 

 

Listeners, thank you so much for listening to this episode of CHSS Connection.  

 

CADIE: 

Hey, thank you for listening to this episode of CHSS Connection. This podcast is hosted and written by Emma Howard and Cadie Junker. 

 

Our audio engineer is Dennis Gabitov. Our supervisor is Eleana Velasco. This podcast is produced by George Mason University's College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Undergraduate Academic Affairs. 

 

Special thanks to the Mason Innovation Exchange for their recording studio. The podcast could not happen without them. This project was developed in collaboration with Career Services and the On Campus Internship Program. 

 

If you love the show and want to interact with more of our content, follow us on Instagram @chsspod or check out the CHSS website where there is an ongoing library of our episodes. You can also be a potential guest on our podcast.  

 

EMMA: 

If you enjoyed the show and would like to express your support, there are a few things you can do. 

 

You can leave a review wherever you are listening to this podcast. You can help by word of mouth, either by telling someone directly who might be interested in the show or posting about it on social media, tagging at @chsspod. All these things help support the show and we appreciate anyone who has done it or will do so in the future. 

 

Again, thank you for tuning in to this episode. We hope you will tune in to the next episode where we are joined by CeCe Keen to discuss different resources that CHSS students can utilize. But until then, stay curious, 

 

CADIE: 

Stay creative! 

 

BOTH: 

And stay connected. 

CHSS Connection is a student podcast hosted and written by Emma Howard and Cadie Junker; Danis Gabitov is our audio engineer. Our supervisor is Eleana Velasco. This podcast is produced by George Mason University, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Undergraduate Academic Affairs. Special thanks to the Mason Innovation Exchange for the use of their recording studio. This project was developed in collaboration with Career Services and the On-Campus Internship Program.

You can email us at chsspod@gmu.edu.

 

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