Education
Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to work on a number of incredible projects that have allowed me to grow and establish myself during my time at Auburn University. I hope you’ll enjoy viewing my classwork as much as I enjoyed working on them. Explore some of my best work below, including my "child image statement".
HDFS 5300: Social Policy
In my time with Dr. Cobb, I was able to learn more about research and government policies. The final for our class was that we had to create our own social policy and present it. My social policy discussed increasing mental health support in the school systems. This assignment will better help me in my future career to advocate for mental health resources in our children. While helping children and families in my job, assisting children with their mental health comes with that. Attached is my policy brief.
HDFS 4670: Parent Education
Dr. Frosch had taught me more than I could imagine about the parenting side of families. Since I am wanting to work for a nonprofit that works with families who have children with cancer, this paper topic is very special to me. I had the opportunity to write a research paper on 'parenting siblings of children with cancer'. This paper discusses the mental health of siblings, the parental awareness of said siblings, and the psychosocial functioning influences.
HDFS 4510: Therapeutic Play
Therapeutic play is a class required for the 'child life' major. Although I am graduating with the 'nontraditional child life' option, this class helped me realize that 'play' is the language of children. In this attached article, two of my classmates and I wrote an exploration paper on therapeutic play with child abuse. This paper is a combination of different literature reviews, as well as personal discussions.
HDFS 3030: Adolescent Development
In Dr. Samek's class, adolescent development, we each chose a topic regarding adolescents to research. My topic was 'negative effects of sexual assault on female adolescents'. This research includes the mental and physical effects that sexual assault causes. Understanding this topic is very important because while researching, I learned that sexual assault on female adolescents is more common than you might think. This information is useful because I will be working with children and families of various backgrounds.
HDFS 3010: Child Development
While learning about child development with Dr. Gordon, I had the privilege to research a topic and write my own research paper on it. I chose the topic of 'constant parental conflict on middle-aged children's development'. While furthering my understanding of this topic, I learned so much about how it affects a child's mental health, coping abilities, development, and social skills. This topic is useful in my career because I will be working with children of all ages and all different backgrounds, including having divorced parents.
Child Image Statement:
When I think of children, my first thought is curiosity. Children are curious and should be able to play and learn for themselves, They are still so young, so everything to them is a learning experience. They are just discovering the world, so patience and time for play is key with kids.