Officers of the honor society Psi Chi met with members of the WSGA on Feb. 1, 2012 and were approved for funding for Psi Chi members to travel to Maryville, Mo., and present at the Great Plains Psychology Conference.

“To take 24 Psi Chi members, it’s going to cost about $2,700,” said Jared Moser, president of Psi Chi.

Other organizations helping to support students with costs of travel, fees and other expenses include the Washburn Transformational Program and the psychology department.

Psi Chi is an honor society for psychology majors who are in the top third of their class and have at least a 3.5 GPA in their psychology classes.

“They give us volunteer opportunities,” said Letecia Perez, senior psychology major.

She added that there are also many opportunities for students to enhance their academic resumés; one of which is the conference, which will be hosted by Northwest Missouri State University in March and lasts for two days.

Perez, along with 23 other psychology majors, have spent the last year researching their topics.

“I designed an experiment and after next week, I am going to run my results and finish my poster,” said Perez.  

Students will have a chance to present either an oral or visual representation of results from research they have done over the past year.

Perez, who participated last year, as well, is doing her project on gender differences in math anxiety among college students, and she believes it’s projects like this that can benefit not only her, but every university student.

Student presenters will be showing their research to psychology professors from universities across the Midwest region. Some will be judging them, and students have an opportunity to earn honorable recognition. Last year, Perez and her partner won first place.  Perez points out that honorable recognitions like this are what universities will be looking for when it comes to accepting a student to a psychology graduate program.

Psi Chi’s calendar of events this semester also includes participating in the National Alliance on Mental Health Walk in May with the psychology club.

Perez added that Psi Chi is also involved in many other volunteer opportunities throughout the community. They work closely with other organizations. Some of them include Big Brothers and Big Sisters, the Family Service and Guidance Center and Breakthrough House.

Moser added that meetings for Psi Chi are held at noon on the second Friday of every month in Henderson 21, and everyone is encouraged to come.