NVC Music, Pharmacy and Psychology Students Making Waves

Congratulations to several Northwest Vista College students for their achievements.

NVC Music Students

NVC singers recently participated in the 2021 South Texas NATS Chapter Auditions. Dylan Ramirez took home the First Place in Lower College Musical Theater and Elizabeth Potts received Second Place in Upper College Musical Theater.

“What a fantastic accomplishment! I am so proud of their unlimited effort, putting in extra hours of rehearsing and showing incredible patience in recording their videos and reviewing with me. Again, Congratulations!” said Dr. Minkyung Lee, NVC Assistant Professor of Voice/Director of Choral Activities.

Pharmacy Scholarship

Jessica Remmers was recently selected as a Pharmacy Technician Certification Scholar. Jessica is one of only 30 students to receive Phi Theta Kappa’s Fall Walgreens Pharmacy Technician Certification Scholarship! NVC’s

Dr. Lisa McGoldrick is the advisor for the NVC chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, which is an honor society recognizing the academic achievement of students at associate degree-granting colleges and helping them to grow as scholars and leaders.

NVC Psychology Graduates Present Original Research at Psychology Conference

Two Northwest Vista College psychology graduates led presentations of their research at the annual meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association (SWPA) on April 11.

Kristelle Cefre, who recently graduated with a psychology degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio, presented a research talk titled, “Science-Based Higher and Virtual Education Decreases Sexual Prejudices and Discrimination,” and Madison Stout, a junior at UTSA, majoring in psychology, presented a talk titled, “Biological Sex and Sexual Orientation Affect Sexual Consent.”  Other researchers contributing to these studies, include NVC psychology graduates Diane Goguen, Ashley Richardson, and Ashley Schultz, as well as NVC psychology professor Dr. Don Lucas.

Established in 1953, SWPA represents American Psychological Association members living in Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. SWPA promotes and strengthens psychology’s scientific, professional, and educational facets.

Click for virtual versions of Kristelle’s and Maddie’s presentations.

NVC Psychology Students Present Original Research in New Mexico

More than a dozen current and former Northwest Vista College psychology students, along with NVC psychology faculty, Anna-Marie Evans, Jen Fox, and Don Lucas attended the annual meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association (SWPA) from April 5-7 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Established in 1953, SWPA represents American Psychological Association members living in Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. SWPA promotes and strengthens psychology’s scientific, professional and educational facets.

In addition to attending workshops, invited talks, research symposia, poster sessions, and research paper sessions — several students presented their original research to standing-room-only audiences!

Kiana Kelley, Diane Goguen, Tailar Matthews, and Kristelle Cefre presented their research titled, “Dispelling Sexual Myths with Higher and Virtual Education.”

Areayla Jeanpierre, Valerie Ortiz, and Marin McDaniel presented their research titled, “What is Your Sex IQ?”

Maimoona Palwala, Chris Lowell, and Kristina Martinez presented their research titled, “Sexual Language is implicitly More Offensive to Females than Males.”

Ethan Berry, Christian Salazar, Jacqueline Tucker, and Jacqueline Dominguez presented their research titled, “Does Childhood Adversity Affect Overall Well-Being?”

Summaries of their research can be found at:

https://www.xcdsystem.com/swpsych/program/hZV1oUP/index.cfm

Additionally, during the SWPA award ceremonies, Ethan Berry received national recognition from the American Psychological Association and was awarded for his services in the Northwest Vista College chapter of Psi Beta.

Several students have on-going research projects they plan to present at next year’s annual meet of the SWPA, which will be in Frisco, Texas.

 

NVC Psychology Club Receives National Recognition for Event

Mental Health HeaderLike most students, I wanted to be a part of something on campus and I finally decided to join the NVC Psi Beta chapter. Integrating yourself into a club for the first time is hard, but this was worth it; I walked into a tight-knit group who invited me in!

For months before, some key club members, advisors, officers and club vets alike, had worked to put all the pieces together to get the Mini Mental Health Summit (see national award at bottom) up and running. It was amazing to see the well-oiled machine they had scheduled. On the day of the event, there was a photobooth with a cutout filter, artwork done by students, an inkblot station to tell us how it made you feel, a variety of local agencies all dealing with mental health and wellness, a panel of speakers, videos, and food!

Still a newbie in the club, I stayed close to the few I knew by the photo booth, took pictures and saw some of the artwork we collected, with our members playing music and singing across the hall. It was there I saw representatives from Clarity Child Guidance Center, and got to chat them up about future opportunities. I even painted an inkblot that students could respond to – it seemed to make people feel happy or hungry! The panel though, was my favorite part. Hearing from our counselor, from some of the agency representatives and our own students tell their stories and offer wisdom was insurmountably inspiring. I began to see some of these quasi-strangers differently and I wasn’t shy anymore.

Our mini mental health summit was a defining moment for NVC, Psi Beta, and myself. It was MY first big event that I worked with the clubs, and showed me what we could do! The officers that put it together showed me what we were capable of; this club and our amazing advisors helped to introduce me to one of the communities where I fit best and has astronomically improved my college experience.

The panel we held supplied to the conversation we were having around mental health and contributed to creating a safe space on campus. It allowed students and teachers to see that we weren’t afraid to have the conversation in the first place! The summit was a trend setting, award-winning event that was put together with the goal of simply educating; it was a selfless act that has driven me to want to give back and provide the same opportunity for our club and our school and our community. It’s success has made me determined to gather the troops and hold an event to inspire and teach people here, too. Holding such an event on campus so shamelessly added a brick to the pavement on the trek to breaking the mental health stigma.

I have had some amazing professors here at Northwest Vista, and they have aided in my growth, as well as this organization. To have a community this open minded surrounding you, we grow close and have meaningful friendships because of it. We help each other and accept each other because of it, too. We were able to open up our community to the whole campus during the summit, and by making the discussion of mental health visible and accessible, we shed light on the topic. I believe that there are students out there who made strides to talk to someone about their feelings, and we made people unashamed to ask for help. That is why we need events like this: so people don’t feel so alone. We stay silent out of fear of being rejected and ostracized, but when people get up on stage and draw attention to their survival and their strength it shows the rest of us what is possible.

By NVC Student Diane Goguen

Note: 
Psi Beta National Honor Society awarded the NVC chapter the 2016-17 Community Service Award for its Mental Health Summit last November at NVC. Read News Release Community Service Award 16-17.doc.

Mental Health Header

NVC Psych Students Making Waves

Mental Health Header

Northwest Vista College’s Psychology students are making waves across the city:

Gerona Nylander and Callie Roberts (NVC graduate and senior at OLLU) presented research titled “A Sexual Vocabulary Test: How Much Do We Really Know About Sex” lead by NVC Professor of Psychology Dr. Don Lucas and instructor of NVC Psychology Jen Fox at the 2nd Annual OLLU McNair Scholars and Student Research Symposium on April 20, 2017.

  • The research explored the knowledge of human sexuality by evaluating responses to 10 vocabulary words
  • Their research was previously presented at 2017 SWPA in San Antonio
  • Out of 40 presentations, the NVC alumni won 1stplace and $300 grand prize

Additionally, four NVC Psychology students, Kathleen Lozano, Patrice Gibson-Scott, Linda Rangel, and Alejandra De Leon represented Northwest Vista College in a friendly psychology jeopardy competition against UTSA psychology honor students earlier this month.

NVC Psychology instructor Jen Fox said the NVC students “gave them a run for their money.”

We were leading by 1,000 points at one point. However, we missed two of the Motivation and Emotion questions, which allowed UTSA to catch up with us. The final question worth 500 points was asked, and UTSA answered first, which gave them the win. The final score was 5,400 to 5,700.

“Our students were disappointed but extremely proud of how well they did, “said Jen. “I think that this is an excellent testament to how well our psych faculty are doing and the amazing students that we are blessed to forge relationships with.”

Mental Health Students