10/22/2019 1 Comment Applied Project:My applied project is going to be a collection of podcast episodes where I will discuss the research I have found about different stress relief strategies. I chose this project because I think it is the best way for me to get my information out to college students. A lot of college students listen to podcast. It will be an easy way for people to listen during their everyday lives.
I am hoping to do four different podcast episodes where I will discuss mental health, stress and anxiety in college students and what causes it, and a few different ways they can reduce stress. My goal is that college students with take the time to listen to my podcast and try doing these different stress reducing activities. I’m hoping people who listen to the information I am sharing with them, they will be interested enough to share it with their friends. With this project I will be managing my time with the timeline below. By following this timeline it will help keep me on track. My goal is to make a podcast bi-weekly and the week before I make the podcast I will write the script on the topics I am going to talk about. By doing this it will make the podcast more structured. Timeline: October 20th: Continue research October 23rd: Start making script October 29th: Finish script November 2nd: Post 1st podcast Continue posting podcast bi-weekly
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I have always been interested in mental health and I find it to be very important for everyone's well being. An example of mental health is stress and anxiety. For my research project I want to concentrate on stress and anxiety in college students and how to reduce it. College can be a stressful time because you are leaving your normal everyday environment to go to a new place you know very little about. When you leave for college you are leaving behind friends and family that you are comfortable with and sometimes it can be hard at first to open up to new people. You will have new teachers, faculty, roommates and classmates. Once you are at college you will have class, home work, maybe a job and that can be overwhelming and cause stress and anxiety. I want to concentrate on ways to reduce this stress and anxiety.
With this research I want to share it with college students that may be having these difficulties. It can be hard to find activities or tricks that will actually work to reduce stress. Everyone is different and not everything will work for everyone so it is important to find what works for you. It is important to deal with stress and anxiety you may be having because it can lead to worse things like ongoing chronic stress, depression, cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and high blood pressure. I personally struggle with stress and am always looking for new ways to reduce it. Timeline: Last year I did okay with making the due dates of all my work but I waited till last minute to get it done. By doing this my work may have been rushed or not the best work I could have done. Waiting till last minute also caused me stress so this year I have been working on getting my work done in advance. I have found that working on a project a little each day can make the project a lot easier and less stressful. With this research article I will follow my due dates below so that I can stay ahead. October 8th: Prospectus & timeline final drafts done October 20th: Start literature search October 23th: Précis done October 29th: Outline done November 6th: Completed draft done November 10th: Revision November 16th: Final Draft done Article Topics:
I am working on the topic of Bipolar disorder because I want to find out why this disorder goes untreated so often in order to help my reader understand that mental illness is common and it is okay to get treatment. I am working on the topic of how certain drugs can cause Schizophrenia because I want to find out what is happening in their brain to cause this in order to help my readers understand that hard drugs can cause your brain to change. I am working on the topic of suiced prevention because I want to find out why so many teenagers feel this is their only way out in order to help my reader understand better ways to get help or prevent this. I am working on the topic of stress and anxiety because I want to find out how we can reduce this in college students in order to help my reader understand better ways to cope with stress and ways to stay relaxed and stress free. I am working on the topic of eating disorders because I want to find out if the media is the cause of this in order to help my reader understand that the media can fake a lot of things to make famous people look better than they really do in real life. These are all related to my major of mental health because I find that mental health is very important for out well being. Applied Project: 1. Podcast This would be a good way to get my research out into the world for many people to hear. I want people to be informed about mental illness and how common it really is. I think some people are scared to get proper treatment if they have a disorder but I want to let them know that they are not alone and that they should get the help they need. 2. Questionar This would be a good way for people to give me feed back on my research and how they are feeling about the topic. I will get information on what they think compared to what I found. 3. Twitter Post This would also be a great way to get my research out into the world where people can share it and comment their own thoughts. A lot of people use twitter all around the world. There are many different mental health accounts out there and I'll be able to see what is happening at the moment and what new findings their are. This could help me expand my research. 9/11/2019 3 Comments My INTELLECTUAL JourneyI grew up in Moultonborough, New Hampshire. Moultonborough is a very small town where everyone knows everyone. Most of my family lives in moultonborough or near by. I am an only child so me and my parents are very close. It was okay growing up as an only child, getting both your parents full attention but sometimes I wished I had a brother or sister to play and hang out with.
As I grew up my parents were always supportive of everything I did or wanted to do. They both pushed me to be the best person I could be. In highschool I started to think about what I wanted to do for a career when I got older. There were so many options. How was a highschooler supposed to decide what they wanted to do for the rest of their lives. This design really stressed me out. Both my parents pushed me to go to college because they wanted me to be successful and to do a job I would love. My mom went to a 2 year college to get her business degree right out of highschool and my dad never went to college. My dad may not have went to college but he is one of the hardest workers I know. He has worked very hard to get to where he is today. My dad has his own business that he loves and is very proud of. Both my parents are big roll models in my life. Since my dad didn’t have the chance to go to college and my mom only went for 2 years they both really wanted me to expand my education. I wanted to go to college after I graduated highschool, that was always my plan, I just didn’t realize how stressful picking a major would be. Most all of my friends graduated highschool knowing what they were going to major in, in college but I had no idea. I knew I loved health, science, math but there were so many majors to choose from and I didn’t want to pick something I wouldn't like. I went into my freshman year of college at the University of Southern Maine as undeclared. I thought by getting my general education class out of the way would be good and it may help me figure out what I was interested in. After two semesters at USM I soon realized this school wasn’t for me so I transformed to a school closer to home. My parents were very supportive and helpful, they wanted me to be happy. I started my sophomore year at Plymouth State University and love it. I decided to study Biology at PSU. I have always loved science and new there were so many different job opportunities with this major. After two semesters of being a biology major I liked learning about biology but I just felt like something was missing. That I wasn’t expanding my education enough. I also didn’t like chemistry which was a requirement for this major. I was feeling lost and disappointed in myself. I felt like I should know by now what I was interested in and what I wanted to do with my life but I was still so unsure. I also didn’t want to let anyone down. I talked to my advisor about my doubts and struggles and he sent me to see Robin DeRosa. Robin was wonderful. As soon as I sat in her office she made me feel very comfortable and she was very accepting. She made me feel okay with my choices. Robin started to talk to me about interdisciplinary studies and how you can make your own major by combining different majors into one. I thought this was awesome. This is what i’ve been looking for this whole time I thought to myself. I finally didn't have to pick just one major I would be stuck with, I finally got to do what I was interested in and expand my education how I’ve wanted to. I made a major that fit my interests. The major I made was mental health. I combined psychology and health into one major. With this major I have learned more than I ever thought I would and I love it. I hope that every incoming freshman knows about interdisciplinary studies because I think a lot of other people will love this just as much as I do. 9/4/2019 0 Comments Application Essay IDS Statement: Mental Health Studies
When I first began my college career, I had no idea where it would lead me. I started off as a Biology Major here at Plymouth State but after taking courses in this field I soon realized that it wasn’t for me. I really enjoyed taking the biology courses but I didn’t like some of courses that followed. I wanted to learn from more of a variety of disciplines. Once I realized I didn’t want to stick to being a Biology Major I was trying to find another major that interested me, but instead of finding just one I found two: Psychology and Health. I thought how great would it be if I could combined Psychology and Health into one major and the Interdisciplinary Studies program helped me do that. My program is called Mental Health Studies. Mental health includes the study psychological well-being and mental illness. I created this program because it is a combination of the two majors that really interest me and that I would like to learn more about, Health and Psychology. No other program here at Plymouth State is right for me because nothing teaches me the variety of content that I am interested in. Interdisciplinary Studies provides me with the opportunity to combine the best of several subject areas around a single theme and allow me to experience college in a way that interests and inspires me. My biology background will help me in my program to understand the natural science that studies life and living organisms. In my biological background I have learned physical structure of organisms, chemical processes, molecular interactions, physiological mechanisms, development and evolution. Biological Science 2, BI1120 covered the evolution, diversity, ecology and functioning of living systems, with a focus on both plants and animals. I found this course to be very interesting and it helped me with my understanding of neuroscience in psychology. Neuroscience is important when it comes to psychology because it dives deeper into the human mind by scientifically observing the various biological and chemical processes that make the brain and nervous system function. Psychology is a big part of my program. Psychology has always interested me since I was in high school. I really enjoy learning about the mind and behaviors. The first psychology course I took in college was General Psychology 1, PS2010 at the University of Southern Maine when I was freshman. This course introduced me to the methods of psychology as a scientific study. I also took Human Growth and Development, PS2050 at USM. This course taught me information on the development of human growth throughout people's lives. I learned research, common physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development from young to old. The first psychology course I took at Plymouth State University was Abnormal Psychology, PS3320. I am currently taking this course, and it describes the symptoms, causes, and methods of treatment of the major forms of psychopathology. We are learning all different mental diseases and how they can be treated. In the future I plan to take Treatment of Psychological Disorders, PS4350. This course will teach me more about treatment methods for psychological disorders, such as: cognitive-behavioral therapy, medications and other therapy. I also plan on taking Mental Health and Society SW3300. I think this course will be great for my interest in mental health and it will teach me about psychological well-being. Lastly for psychology courses, I plan on taking Community Mental Health PS4330. This course will teach me how community mental health works to prevent mental health problems in different populations. Health and wellness is also a big part of my program. I find health and wellness to be very interesting for it is alway changing. I also find it to be a big part of everyone's life. I am currently taking Principles of Health, HE2300. This course is teaching me the fundamental issues related to health. I am learning different outcomes including understanding all the dimensions of health, health behaviors, and how to solve health issues. I am also currently taking Applied Nutrition for Healthy Living, HE3220. This course is teaching me about the fundamental concepts of nutrition and other substances in food, maintenance, growth, reproduction, and disease. It includes food intake, absorption, and how our bodies process the different food we eat. I plan to take Exercise and Health Psychology, PE4010 because this course will help me learn about health behaviors of people with active lives. Stress Management, HE3200 will provide me with with an overview of techniques to help manage stress and increase health and wellness. I also plan on taking Disease, Safety, and Environment, HE2900. This course will teach me an overview of all the basic diseases and disorders, as well as issues related to wellness safety in the environment. Lastly I plan on taking Illness, Wellness, and Healing, AN3500 because this course will teach me the concepts of illness, wellness, and healing reflected by the different societies and cultures. My program, Mental Health Studies, is a major that interests me and inspires me. Interdisciplinary has helped me realize what I am really interested in and what I want to learn more about. Before I found out about IDS I always thought you had to pick just one major and find a career that went with it. Now you can combine different majors into one. Combining Health and Psychology into one major has really helped me figure out what I want to do for a career. I want to become a Mental Health Therapist in a hospital one day and work with people who have mental illnesses. I really enjoy helping people and I hope one day I get to do that in my career. UPDATE: I am now a senior at PSU and my major is still interdisciplinary studies concentrating on mental health. From writing this last semester and reading it today I have realized that my interest for learning about mental health has grown. I think every class I take that relates to my major makes me more interested and more in love with this discipline. I am on track with all my required classes and credits to graduate in the spring. The only thing that has become difficult is taking some of the courses I planned on taking this semester I have to take them next semester instead. The reason for this is because some of the courses were already full when I tried to sign up for them or they didn't fit in my schedule. I still plan on taking all of the courses I wrote about in this essay. I am excited to see what these new courses will teach me about mental health and how I can put this knowledge into the real world when I graduate. After graduation I plan on working with children who have mental illness either in a hospital setting or in a special home. I hope to make a difference in these children lives. 12/5/2018 2 Comments exam post I really enjoyed taking “Intro to Interdisciplinary Studies” even though it was nothing like I thought it was going to be. I thought this course was just going to be a simple class where we start to figure out our majors and what we want to do for a job when we graduate but it was so much more than that. I thought we would be learning basic material and content covered during the course on how IDS works. Once the course started I soon realized that this course was going to be somewhat intense. The first few classes we went over different assignment we were going to do over the semester and I started to get a little worried because most of the assignment involved writing and I was not a very strong writer. Once I started the assignments I soon started to become better at writing and really enjoyed it. I learned so many new techniques over the semester that will really help me in my other classes, my career and my life. A few new things I learned while taking this course were; how to use twitter properly, how to annotate articles online, how to make a website, post on the website, and I also learned what interdisciplinary really means. Before taking this course I really didn’t have any idea what “interdisciplinary” meant. I had a little understanding that it meant combining different majors into one. Once we started learning information on interdisciplinary and reading a bunch of articles about it, I had a better understanding. Interdisciplinary has to do with so many different thing, like the way teachers teach, the way we learn, combining different studies into one and so much more. I realized that everyone's perspective of “interdisciplinary” is different. My understanding of IDS changed over the course of the semester. It turns out interdisciplinarity is actually the combination of at least two majors, but there can be more involved. I believe most people in my class are combining 2 or 3 different majors into one. The concept of interdisciplinary also takes a different perspectives, that can yield unexpected pathways that were not visible before. I have learned from this that there are extra resources beyond the classroom. All this information has helped me learn that interdisciplinary is so much more than just combining to majors. Through this course I have learned so many new terms and concepts that have really helped me with my own IDS program and plans. Like I have mentioned in previous posts my IDS contract concentrates on health and psychology. I’m combining these two fields of study into a mental health major where I learn about different mental health diseases and all the different ways of treatment. IDS has been a great way for me to learn so much new information I wouldn’t have learned if I just stuck to one major. Having two different majors has really opened my eyes to so much. Each day I take different classes where I learn totally different information but somehow it always ends up relating back to one another. Reading through all the different assigned articles, I have learned how IDS fits into the education system. Every assignment we have throughout the course there is an article that explains to us why we are doing it, for example, why we post our writing assignments on our websites for the public to see. The article “How Public? Why Public?” explains this very well. This article talks about how a student sharing their work beyond the classroom motivated them to write meaningful work so that the world can see it. I believe this really works because since I have know my work is going out into the public I always want it to be as perfect as it can, so I always try to do my best on each assignment. A term that related to this article and that has always stood out to me is “Transdisciplinarity”. This term is defined as “building bridges across disciplines, but also across the disciplinary structures altogether, linking the academic world with the practical world” (DeRosa) I think this is an good term because it is involved in the academic work but also related to the real world, just like our IDS assignments. I think by connecting to the world outside of the classroom is a great way to “provide social supports for learning through social media and online affinity groups”. (Ito, Gutierrez & Livingstone) Interdisciplinary is important to colleges, universities and the world. It is important because it is the new approach to gaining further education on individual fields of interest. This type of study allows the student to learn by making connections between ideas and concepts across different disciplinary boundaries. Students learning in this way are able to apply the knowledge gained in one discipline to another different discipline as a way to deepen the learning experience. More students are struggling just picking one major to study throughout their college career so they are realizing that interdisciplinary studies is a major where they can combined whatever fields of study that interest them. I think that interdisciplinary learning is much butter than a restricted learning environment. My experiences with Interdisciplinary learning so far has sharpened my ideas about the world knowledge. I hope during my last three semesters here at PSU I will continue to combine the best of several subject areas around a single theme that allows me to experience college in a way that interests and inspires me. I have really enjoy learning a variety of content about heath and psychology that is interesting and nonrestrictive. Once I get my degree in mental health I plan to work with people who have mental health disorders and help treat them. I think the IDS program has done a great job with open education and I hope that continuous and expands. 12/4/2018 0 Comments 11/28 eport postTwo classes that I am taking that interest me are Abnormal Psychology and Principles of Health. I have learned a lot of different information in both of these classes but I have also learned some similar things. In my Abnormal Psychology class taught by Beth Benoit, I am learning symptoms, causes, and methods of treatment of the major forms of psychopathology. In my Principles of Health class taught by Lynn Bates, I am learning about the fundamental issues related to health. I am learning different outcomes include understanding all the dimensions of health, health behaviors, and how to solve different health issues. The thing that I have found the most interesting to learn about in my psychology class is about personality disorders. The textbook we use in this class says “People with a personality disorder display an enduring, rigid pattern of inner experience and outward behavior that impairs their sense of self, emotional experiences, goals, capacity, from empathy, and/or capacity for intimacy.” (Comer, p.421) I find this to be really interesting because there are so many kinds of personality disorders and each person who has one has different symptoms and reacts to treatment differently. The thing that I have found the most interesting in my health class is about stress. I found this to be interesting because stress is something most people have in their everyday life. In this class our professor taught us a few different ways to manage stress because most college student experience a lot of stress, with homework, work, exams, family, and friends. Professor Bates told us to “Exercise regularly, get enough sleep, eat healthy, learn time management, learn and practice relaxation techniques”. These two different things I found interesting do actually relate to one another. People with personality disorders, people who are friends with and family who live with someone with this disorder usually have a lot of stress from this. Stress management would be a great tool for these certain people to learn. Personality disorders and stress management also relate to my major which is mental health. Mental health is something that should be very important in everyone's lives. It’s important because it includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Mental health affects how we think, feel, and act. Stress is something that can affect our mental health by making us emotional so it's good to manage it regularly. Personality disorder is also something that affects mental health by changing our feelings and behaviors. This interesting information I am currently learning about stress and personality disorders will help me in the future. When I graduate and get a degree in Mental Health I hope that I get to help treat people that have these different disorders. I think by learning this information about what stress can do to your body/mind and what people with personality disorders are going through it will really help me connect with these certain people. 12/3/2018 0 Comments PLN ePort PostI’m a interdisciplinary studies major concentrating on mental health. For this major I take a lot of health and psychology class. I find these class to be very interesting and I’m always learning new information from lectures and textbooks but wouldn’t it be cool to learn new information on social media? That what my PLN plan is for! My PLN plan is a twitter account. I made this twitter account a few months ago and I have already learned so much new information, about technology, new treatment for health, the brain and so much more. By sharing the information we are learning, on social media it teaches other. I found this quote from Why Openness in Education? to be very interesting “Education is, first and foremost, an enterprise of sharing. In fact, sharing is the sole means by which education is effected.” (Wiley & Green) My twitter account is called hailey’s health. I named my account this because I wanted to concentrate on the mental health field. I follow many different twitter accounts about psychology and health. A few different accounts I follow are Mindfulness Wellness, WebMD, Women’s Health, Psychology Living, Whole Food Market and many more. These different twitter accounts and even twitter itself has taught me so much about technology. I made a personal twitter account about four years ago but I never really used it, I would go onto it and read what people posted sometimes but that was about it. I never really understood it till this year. I have learned how to tweet, retweet, comment and favorite. Twitter is an awesome way to learn about new information happening all around the world and also a great way to get your own ideas out there for people to see and comment on. My PLN plan is really preparing me for the future. Technology is always changing even if we don’t think it needs to. There are always new website, new ways to do things, new apps and so much more. By having this twitter account I can always be caught up from twitter updating itself or from seeing post. My PLN plan will also prepare me for a job in the future. When I apply for a job, I can put on my resume that I am up to date on all the new technology and that will give me the upper hand on other people applying for the same position. I think a PLN is great experience for everyone. Computers are something that have come a long way over the past few years. A computer is so complicated but yet so simple all at the same time. It is simple because you can look up whatever you think about on this device and it will give you an answer. It's complicated because there are a lot of different things that go into making a computer.
When computers were first invented in 1946 they were these huge heavy machines. They were invented by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly at the University of Pennsylvania. The first computer occupied about 1,800 square feet and used about 18,000 vacuum tubes, weighing almost 50 tons. Newer computers are way smaller weighing 5 pounds and easy to bring everywhere. Computers now come in a desktop form where you can use them at home, offices and schools or in a laptop form which you can bring just about anywhere and fits in every bad. Laptops come in all shapes and sizes. This 5 pound square thing with no wires can answer all of our question and can be used just about anywhere in the world. This is because of mathematics, communication, engineering, business and programming. All of these disciplines go into computers. Mathematics are involved for the data the computer runs on. Computer engineering requires excellent math skills, both for the construction of hardware and the programming of software. Communication is important because no computer engineer does everything on their own, they are nearly always part of a team. Teams need to communicate well by listening to everyone's thoughts and ideas. Software and hardware engineers are important for building the computer from the inside out. Programming is also important for building the computer because it helps speed them up and increases the power they have. Business is a very big part of computers because there is tons of advertising, price competition, sales, customer service; the list goes on. Many different businesses sell and fix computers to make money. Overall it takes many different disciplines to build and sell computers. Computers nowadays are used in just about everything, from cell phones to cars and planes. The computers in cars are used for oxygen sensors, wheel pressure sensors, air bag control, the radio ect. Computers in planes translates the pilot's actions into electronic signals, which computers use to manipulate flight controls. The computers constantly monitor pilot input and prevent the aircraft from exceeding its flight envelope. Who knew computers were used in so many different things? 11/29/2018 0 Comments REVISED INTERVIEW ASSIGNMENTWe were given an assignment where we had to interview a professor in a field we expect might be part of our major. With that being said I chose Lynne Bates as the professor I would interview. Professor Bates is a health education teacher here at Plymouth State University. Health has always been something that has interested me because it is such an important part of our lives. Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease. The reason I chose Professor Bates to do my interview on is because I have her as one of my health teachers and I really enjoy her principles of health class. She also teaches a disease safety and the environment class. Her principles of health class has and is still teaching me how to explore the fundamental issues related to health. Learning outcomes include understanding all the dimensions of health, the overarching foundations of health behaviors, how to access health literature, national health behavior and guidelines/recommendations.
Professor Bates did not start school studying health education, when she originally started school she started as an anthropology archaeologist major but she did not find it to be as interesting as she thought it would be. She picked this major going into college because when she was in fourth grade one of her friends dads was an anthropology archaeologist and they went on trips all around the world and she thought that would be so much fun. Once she realized that health education was what she was really interested in she loved it. While studying this she learned social sciences that were drawn from the biological, environmental, psychological, physical and medical sciences to promote health and prevent disease. With this degree she had a few jobs throughout her career, such as a medical technologist, a fitness instructor, a high school teachers and a professor. Professor Bates continued to work at a public high school for awhile during the day and would teach a couple classes at Plymouth State during the night. Once she retired she is now only teaching classes here in Plymouth. She really enjoys working at Plymouth State University and all her students that she gets to teach. Professor Bates is a great example of how our interdisciplinary educations are important in the approaching future. She teaches all about different branches of heath and how they relate to our lives. I really enjoy having her as one of my teachers. |
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