Psi Chi Student Club Receives Model Chapter Award

The Psychology and Counseling Department’s award cabinet in the D-Building received a new addition recently. Governors State University’s (GSU) chapter of Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology, has won the model chapter award for the 2018-2019 academic year.

The award was bestowed for the chapter’s strong leadership and active programming, including social and professional development events, to benefit inducted members. The club boasts 70 active members who take parts in events such as Donuts with Docs, a monthly meeting with psychology professors to discuss their college journey, the various fields of psychology that exist, what inspires them and how to balance work and school as a psychologist.

Psi Chi President Michaela Wascher-Disney sees membership into the chapter as a privilege that affected her personally, “You meet a lot of people and create relationships across the fields of psychology. I changed my area of concentration because of it. There were just so many fields I didn’t know about.”

Governors State is the perfect base for the chapter. With a diverse campus comes the opportunity to reach out to different populations in the community. “We give back to our community in a lot of our events, and this gives us the opportunity to work closely with so many different populations of people which is a huge benefit for future psychologists,” said Wascher-Disney.

Faculty advisor Sasha Cervantes views the award as “a great honor that exemplifies how much the members and advisors do to make GSU’s Psi Chi chapter thrive.”

The chapter is currently making preparations for their professional development event on Nov. 14, which will host psychologists from the area and will provide real world context on how to be a professional in the field.