By: Katie Sanders, Editor-in-Chief
Five psychology majors have re-vamped Psychology Kingdom, a chartered organization for students with an interest in the major that in recent years has not attracted much student involvement. Originally created in the early 1970s by Dr. John Pilley and his wife, Sally, the organization used to nominate its members to roles such as king, queen, duke and prince, hence the name ‘kingdom.’ Today, the group seeks to have more of an academic component as well as social and service components.
The group has hosted events open to students of all majors throughout the semester, including a workshop on how to prepare for grad school, a National Depression Screening Day awareness event and pumpkin carving at Halloween. The remaining events of the semester include Cupcakes & Cards today in front of Burwell from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 5 to 7 p.m., where you can make a card for a child at Spartanburg Regional Hospital in exchange for a homemade cupcake, a holiday party on Dec. 1 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the psychology suite and the Student Science Research Colloquium on Dec. 9, where senior majors will present their thesis or other empirical projects.
Psychology Kingdom also provides a way for upperclassmen psychology majors to mentor the underclassmen majors. “An important aspect is the mentoring we do for underclassmen,” says Sami Bernstein ’17, co-vice president for social events. “Let’s say maybe I took a class that my advisor thought I could handle and it turned out I couldn’t- if I would have asked around, other majors could have told me about their experience in the class. That’s why we provide all these workshops. Sometimes you want a student’s opinion, not just a professor’s.”
Anna Usher ’17, co-president, agrees. “A really good reason why you should join Psychology Kingdom is for the support system that we offer,” she says. “At our last event we opened up the opportunity for students to come to the upperclassmen if they needed help putting their spring schedule together, so we can share with them what worked for us, what didn’t, how to work in going abroad, etc.”
The group doesn’t have regular meetings, but rather participation in the club is participating in the events it hosts. “It’s a come-as-you-are type of thing,” says Olivia Crotts ‘17, co-president. “You get out of it what you want to. It’s not a huge time commitment but you can still benefit from it.”
Dylan Hooper ’19, vice president for service activities, adds, “We see ourselves as more of a resource than an obligation.”
Since Bernstein, Usher and Crotts will all graduate in the spring, the group is already thinking ahead about how to maintain the group’s success next year.
“I’m going abroad next semester as well,” says Sydney Butler ’18, co-vice president for social events. “So we’ve already been thinking about who would be a good fit to take over my position while I’m away.”
Usher and Crotts say, “We’ll probably do a combination of applications with professor recommendations.”
“For those interested in applying for the coming year, I would say it’s a great way to give back to a department that does so much for us,” says Bernstein.
For more information, contact the advisor, Dr. McQuiston, or visit the website at sites.wofford.edu/psychologykingdom. You can also follow them on Facebook and Instagram.