School Psychology Personal Statement

Originally, I planned to pursue a career in business. I excelled in my courses and enjoyed the material, receiving encouragement from friends, family, and mentors along the way. Yet, I lacked a crucial component- a sense of enthusiasm and eagerness towards my future in the field. My decision to pursue psychology changed that and my interest in school psychology began as I interned with Donald Takacs, president of the “Dyslexia Society of Connecticut”.

Donald Takacs introduced me to reading disorders, Dr. Sally Shaywitz’s research into Dyslexia, and revealed the disheartening consequences of late detection and stereotyping on the individuals battling them. As an intern, I applied his phonics-based multisensory reading instructions to develop

While providing academic and interpersonal support to several Stamford High students, it was striking to observe the cultural diversity among the students in the program. From Haiti to Kosovo, the majority of the students spoke fluent English yet struggled with reading and came from families unable to provide significant educational support due to limited English proficiency. Foreign cultures, religions, and languages are areas which I have a strong interest in due to my own background as a refugee from Croatia who arrived to America after the Yugoslavian war. The majority of my friends upon arrival were immigrants as well, whose families exposed me to their customs. With this, I was fascinated by some of the stories these students shared. The program helped me better recognize the impact of native culture on these students’ school experience, such as the stigmas surrounding mental health and learning disorders. I decided to further explore these themes by volunteering at Silver Hill Mental Health Hospital after researching mental facilities in my

Aaron Krasner, the head physician of the Adolescent Transitional Living Program, who was starting his research on the effectiveness of their Dialectical Behavior Therapy-based program. I joined his research team and helped by scoring various screening tools (such as the “Five-Facet Mindfulness” questionnaire), running descriptive statistics and creating visuals of our findings. Dr. Krasner’s research is still ongoing and continues to provide a better understanding of his patients’ needs and progress. Throughout my time at their hospital, I’ve witnessed the positive role that therapy and a comforting environment had in helping the patients become more productive during their two-hour school sessions. Around this time, as I was wondering how these skills could be beneficial within any school environment, I had begun researching graduate programs. School Psychology stood out as a strong option and I decided to interview my High School’s school psychology to learn more about