A Brief Interview with Previous KPS President Lecia Desjarlais
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Synapse
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2012
1) How did you become involved with the Kwantlen Psychology Society (KPS)? Back in 2009, I was approached by the KPS and asked if I wanted a position on their Executive Council. They were itching for new members. At the time, it was Amy McLellan, Hayley Leveque, and Kyle Latchford. I’ve been here ever since.
2) What is your current active role? President. I’m also Secretary and Treasurer because our club is so small. I plan meetings, take minutes, make posters, submit planning tools to the KSA, contact guest speakers, and submit expenses.
3) What do you envision for the current administration? We want to expand, expand, expand! We want a larger Executive Council, and more people on our mailing list and in our Facebook group. We need new people to fill the council next year, so I’m always keeping an eye out for keen students.
4) In 2011, what events did the KPS host or support? In September we had pub nights in Surrey and Richmond. We also an APA seminar presented by Dr. Cory Pedersen, which many first year students found very valuable. In October, Dr. Larry Walker came from UBC to talk about getting into the UBC graduate program. In December, we had a student vs. faculty bowling night, Dr. Grace Iarocci from SFU came to talk about getting into the SFU graduate program, and we held a pub night in Surrey.
5) In 2012, what events does the KPS plan to host or support? We plan to have more pub nights since they are well attended. We also hope to have more student vs. faculty sporting events. Perhaps we will also have a speaker come to talk about local education graduate programs (including Counselling, School Psychology, and Special Education). We’re also considering hosting another research “open house” where students present their research, and faculty-run research labs show off their work and recruit keen students.
6) What support does the Psychology faculty provide to the KPS? There seems to be a wealth of good intentions, but only a handful of faculty routinely show up to our events. We want to change that with open challenges to the faculty in the hopes of bringing them out. After all, they beat us in bowling!
7) What parts of the current KPS are different compared to the previous KPS? Last year, our Executive Council was quite large. Responsibilities were spread over more people and this required more planning and delegating. Most of us became close friends. Many KPS members moved on after April, so we are now down to 4 people. This has changed the tone of the KPS and our meetings are more about business than social gatherings.
8) Who are the major contributors in and out of the KPS? Financial contributors? Faculty contributors? Kyle Matsuba is our faculty liaison. He attends our meetings, keeps us focused, and comes up with great ideas. Outside of meetings, we try to be as self-sufficient as possible. As for financial contributors, we largely rely on the KSA for funding our events. I was a little nervous about getting reimbursed for purchases made in the fall when their executive council was ousted.
9) What is the KPS doing to become more involved with students? We hand out surveys at most pub nights and note what activities students say they want. We attend the September and January welcome weeks. One of the biggest challenges for student clubs in general is creating student interest and recruiting new people. It takes confidence, professionalism, and friendliness to reach out and engage with students — this is something we’re constantly learning and developing.
10) What can students do to become more involved with the KPS? Show up to events! Join our mailing list and Facebook group and learn about what events we are hosting. We recently decided that we will have open meetings on a regular basis. We’ll be advertising the date/time/location of all our meetings so that keen students have more than one opportunity to attend, instead of once a semester like our original format.
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In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightjournal.com.
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