Student Spotlight: Jessie Skaff
March 20, 2023 - Shelly DeJong
Jessie Skaff, a senior Honors student from Ann Arbor, is majoring in Psychology with minors in Cognitive Science and Human Behavior. Jessie sat down to talk with us about her experience with the Psychology Scholars Program, being a research assistant in two Psychology labs, being published as an undergrad, and how her internship and campus involvement have helped reinforce the career path that she is on.
What drew you to psychology?
Seeing how effective therapy has been in my own life and how much it helped me and changed my life is what really drew me to the field. I found that I’m genuinely drawn to and interested in psychology topics as opposed to topics like math or history, which aren’t for me. It feels good to be going into a field that I am excited about. As cliché as it is, I do really enjoy talking to and listening to people.
As of right now, I want to eventually pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology. I have always seen myself primarily doing clinical work like therapy, but part of wanting to go to a PhD program is to keep my options open in case I want to do more research or teach.
Can you tell us about the research experience you’ve had at MSU?
I'm a research assistant in two labs right now. I'm in the Close Relationships lab with Dr. Chopik and I’m also a research assistant in Dr. Klump’s lab. COVID hit during my first year which made it difficult to get lab experience. Thankfully, I was able to start working with Dr. Chopik and get some research experience virtually during my second year. I really appreciate Dr. Chopik, he’s been awesome—super nice, funny, and great to learn from. He’s also the reason I have a publication and presentation to put on my CV.
And now working with Dr. Klump has been a really great experience, too. I’m also doing a project with her where I’m doing a narrative review on how BMI moderates the relationship between weight-based teasing and body dissatisfaction. Dr. Klump has been a really awesome mentor, and I really appreciate all she has done for me. While I do feel like I got kind of a late start in terms of research experience, I’m happy with how it has turned out.
What has your experience with the Psychology Scholars Program been like?
I had the chance to work with Dr. Klump because I got into the Psychology Scholars Program. Through that program, you get paired with a mentor that you meet with every so often, which is super helpful. Not only can you get advice on grad school or just have your questions answered by somebody who's obviously very experienced in the field, but you can also ask them about doing a project like the one I’m doing with Dr. Klump. And while it can be intimidating to get in contact with a professor because they’re so busy, you know that they signed up for this program because they want to be a resource to students.
I appreciate all the work that Sarah Handspike, the Director of Advising and Undergraduate Services, does for the Psychology Scholars Program. We meet about once a month for things like educationally geared events like grad school talks but also some fun events. Like at the end of last semester, we all went to the planetarium for pizza and a show! Sarah also always brings dinner to our meetings from different places, which is much appreciated.
Have you had any favorite psychology classes?
Last semester I took a special topics psychology class called the Neuroscience of Child Development. It was very interesting - we covered from conception to pregnancy and then through around age five. It was a very interesting class and it made me think about this being a research area that I might want to pursue. I also liked my Psychology of Women class that Dr. Weaver taught. That was very interesting, too!
How else are you involved at MSU?
I'm a peer facilitator with the Peer Body Project, which is an empirically based program sponsored by the Health Promotion Department and coordinated by Karen Giles-Smith for college-aged women to help kind of resist the appearance ideal. To be able to lead groups, I completed a training program the summer before I began working. This has really been an amazing experience for me. I think it's really helped to reinforce that working with people is something I want to do as a part of my career.
I also did an internship this past summer at the MSU Couple and Family Therapy Clinic. That was very cool. I was able to observe the weekly practicums where the supervisor and the student clinicians watched their recorded sessions and talked through the interventions they planned to do at the next session, what was working, what wasn’t working, etc. I also was able to get experience calling clients, completing clinical intake interviews, and assessing for things like substance abuse and intimate partner violence.
I'm also the editor-in-chief for Her Campus as well as a staff writer, and I have written some psychology-related articles. Lastly, I'm also the president of Spartans Empower Body Acceptance (SEBA) which has been a very rewarding experience. We work to raise awareness of eating disorders and promote body acceptance throughout MSU. It's not a huge club by any means, but I really love it because the people who do come to the meetings really care.