Prickly Pear, Yearbook of Abilene Christian University, 2002 Page: 194
303 p. : ill. ; 32 cm.View a full description of this yearbook.
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FIR$T" HAN
EXrERIENCE
Psychology students spend time in Montevideo
F or some students during the summer, class took
on a whole new meaning.
During their summer-long international internship
experience, the students in the accelerated psychology
class were able to go to Montevideo, Uruguay,
in South America and get hands on training with psychological
research and the psychological aspects of a
business.
This was the first accelerated class to go on the
international internship. With 15 students going to
three different sites, the class received hands-on training
in an area of psychologyin which they were interested,
as well as helping out the surrounding community."Our goal was to get them into organizations so
they could observe psychologists, sociologists and
Uruguayans working," said Angie McDonald, assistant
professor of psychology and current adviser to
the accelerated class, "and to get them experience."
Alianza
One of the sites available for students was Alianza,
an English-speaking program designed to help locals
learn about American culture and help their English
speaking skills.
"In a lot of sales jobs, they want people to speak
English," McDonald said. "A lot of emphasis is on
American culture."
The seven people that worked at the Alianza site
were able to compile a complete evaluation and outcome
assessment for Alianza. This assessment
involved asking the Uruguay students why they
wanted to learn English, their reasons for choosing
Alianza and the expectations and satisfaction about
the program. All of this, the surveys and the finalproduct, were given in Spanish by the students.
For the executive director of Alianza, Maria Blanco
Pate, the thought of students coming in and completing
a real assessment of the Uruguay students and
program didn't sound feasible.
"We were enthusiastic about the project because it
fit well with our mission," Pate said. "However, we
anticipated potential difficulties, mostly related to the
lack of experience of the students, and the cultural
shock."
But the Alianza staff encountered a different
shock.
"We soon realized that we had vastly underestimated
the students' maturity and experience,"
Pate said. "The students decided
not only to conduct all the proposed
activities and projects, they added other
highly complex tasks as well."
The students at Alianza were able to
complete all of the assessments and put their
findings in a data base all within five weeks.
Pate said that the project should in reality
have taken at least two months to complete; the
students had taken a little less than half that time
and saved the organization about $3,000 to $5,000.
For Meagan Tunstall, sophomore psychology
major from Houston, the work that she did and the
information she gleaned from the experience will help
her immensely when she is trying to find a job or go
into a doctorate program.
"I really like Alianza," Tunstall said. "I learn so
much about research and statistics.
"But I really had a lot of fun just talking with the
people."
St. Ignacio Depression
Clinic/O'Broho
The students that did not work with Alianza were
able to choose another site known as St. Ignacio Depression
Clinic.
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Abilene Christian University. Prickly Pear, Yearbook of Abilene Christian University, 2002, yearbook, 2002; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth39886/m1/197/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.