PSY Student Spotlight: Sydney Savage

February 5, 2023 - Shelly DeJong

Sydney Savage, a senior Honors student studying Psychology and Creative Writing from DeWitt, Michigan, sat down with us to talk about what she’s passionate about, her two majors, and how she’s been able to get involved at MSU. From volunteering with the MSU Peer Body Project and the Listening Ear Crisis Center to her experience with the Adolescent Diversion Program, Sydney has seized the opportunities that MSU has to offer.   

 

Did you know that you were going to be double majoring in Psychology and English when you came in to MSU?  

Originally, I was just planning on doing English and being a professor. But then I took an English literature course and realized it wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do. I had also experienced some mental health struggles including disordered eating—and I got through it. I felt this need or passion to help other people who were struggling so I decided to go into Psychology, too. I also started volunteering for the Listening Ear Crisis Center. It's been really rewarding getting to do work with people that struggle with mental health and other things. 

Do you have a dream job in mind?   

In terms of Psychology, I want to be a therapist to help young adults. I’m passionate about body empowerment and eating disorders. Through the MSU Peer Body Project, I’ve been able to go around campus and do presentations about eating disorders and the stuff that doesn’t always get talked about. We meet in groups of six to seven undergraduate females, and we talk about things like the media's influence on disordered eating and how corporations often profit off our struggles. I would love to speak more about that in the future on a community level. 

I've always known I wanted to be a writer and to have my books published. A couple of excerpts of my novels are published in a few magazines, and I'm reaching out to agents. I'm also interning at Arthouse Literary Agency in California which has given me valuable experience in the marketing and networking side of publishing. 

Have you had any favorite psychology classes?  

There's so many. I'm in Abnormal Psychology right now and I really like that because I get to learn more about mental health specifically. And I'm also in Social Psychology right now which is just super cool to learn. You learn so much about people and why they do what they do. A lot of the journals that we've been reading are super interesting. I would also recommend the Adolescent Diversion Program which is part class and part hands on experience with youth from the community. The class is only eight students, so you really get a chance to dig into your cases. The teachers do a really good job of giving you the skills that you need.  

Can you tell us more about the Adolescent Diversion Program? What does it look like from your perspective?  

So, the first half is basically like lecture where they teach you skills such as trauma informed care and stuff that is all really important. We have lectures on empathy, how to talk about trauma, and other heavy topics—they really do a good job of preparing you. We also go through past cases so we kind of get an idea of how to deal with it ourselves. Right now, we're in the second half of the course so we've all been assigned a youth who we meet with for six hours a week. We use a strength-based approach, so we focus on their strengths in order to get them to achieve their goals. We create two SMART goals with our youths that we then work with them on throughout the entire 18-week intervention. The goals that my youth and I created are career focused, so we do a lot to expose him to things that he might want to do in the future. Through the program, we’re really trying to make progress with them and to try to reduce recidivism. It’s a really cool experience.  

What's good about the ADP program is that we're not significantly older than the youths to the point where we seem like an authority figure. So, we try to develop a professional friendship where they may be more likely to open up to us. I think that that's why the program sees the results that they do. 

Have you had any psych professors or staff that have had an impact on you? 

I’ve gotten to know the ADP instructors, Emily and Sean, and the TAs really well because I see them all the time and talk with them. It’s very much like a family—if we're struggling with our case or something we can just call them, and they help us go through the process. And they're always there like even if it's like midnight or something like we can call them.   

Do you have any favorite MSU Psychology experiences so far? 

I've really liked the ADP program. I'm also in the Psi Chi Club which is cool because we get to hear from a lot of different speakers. They teach you about grad school and what you can do after undergrad. It's nice to have people that are all in the same boat as you. The Peer Body Project is also a good program that has a lot of psychology students involved.