/news-archive/tag/david-mastin/ 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Fri, 04 Jan 2019 17:55:27 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 /news-archive/2019/01/04/quinshell-smith/ Fri, 04 Jan 2019 17:55:27 +0000 /news/?p=73043 ... Back to school for future doctor]]> Quinshell Smith graduated from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in December with two degrees – a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and a Bachelor of Science in biology, but she鈥檚 not ready to leave campus yet. On Jan. 22, she will return as a graduate student to begin work on a Master of Science in Applied Science. The work she is doing is all part of her plan to one day be a neurologist. Smith, 23, knew she wanted to attend college after she graduated from Hall High School in 2013, but as the first in her family to go to college, she didn鈥檛 have help sorting through the college process. 鈥淎t the time, I wanted to get out of Little Rock, and I went with the school that sent me the first acceptance letter,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 do my research.鈥� The school wasn鈥檛 a good fit, and Smith transferred to 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock to continue her biology studies. 鈥淚 chose biology because I thought it would help me understand the human body,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檝e always had a love of science, and I want to be a doctor.鈥� Then she took a class with Dr. Rachel Tennial, associate professor of psychology, and decided she wanted to double major in both biology and psychology. 鈥淚 just fell in love with the psychology department,鈥� she said. 鈥淎ll of the professors had an open-door policy, and a lot of my research came out of the psychology department.鈥� Smith鈥檚 passion to be a doctor stems from the death of her father at young age. 鈥淣ot having my father around affected me as a girl growing up,鈥� she said. 鈥淢y father’s death, along with being raised in a single parent household, impacted my decision to pursue psychology because a lot of the things I learned in my psychology, I realized I have encountered. It helped me understand the situation and the way the people around me think. It also helped me have the capacity to forgive his killer.鈥� Smith underwent much counseling after her father鈥檚 death, and on campus, she has worked to increase awareness of mental health. As president of 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock鈥檚 Psychology Club, she helped start Mental Health Awareness Week that brought together different campus organizations and student groups for a week of mental health related activities in October. She also organized a donation drive through the Psychology Club to benefit Methodist Behavioral Health. Smith also served on Student Government Association as a senator for the College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences. One of her most rewarding experiences at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock has been the extensive undergraduate research she鈥檚 participated in alongside 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock faculty. In one research project, she interviewed stage 3 and 4 cancer patients about their end-of-life preparations as part of a research study at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. 鈥淚 had to ask the tough questions,鈥� Smith recalled. 鈥淎 lot of patients really touched me. It gave me a different perspective. I feel like this research truly prepared me for life as a doctor when I do make it to that point. Doctors have to talk about the tough stuff that people don鈥檛 want to talk about.鈥� She also worked with psychology professor David Mastin on a sleep study, measuring how technology affects students鈥� sleep. 鈥淒r. Mastin taught me how to really conduct research,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t is what I will need for my graduate research.鈥� When the spring semester starts, Smith will work as a graduate assistant in the Academy for Teaching and Learning Excellence on campus. The assistantship will cover her graduate school tuition. Down the road, Smith plans to attend medical school, but for now she鈥檚 content with the work she鈥檚 doing to prepare. 鈥淚 know I will get there,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 taking my time because I realized that not everything is a rush. I鈥檓 taking my time to learn every subject.鈥� Photo by Benjamin Krain  ]]>