News

November 5, 2015 at 4:32 pm

‘Graduating Junior’ Is Headed to Grad School a Year Early

Miyah Grant

Miyah Grant

By Juliana Scheiderer ’16

Child Psychology major Miyah Grant is focused on the future. By taking advantage of dual enrollment courses in high school, she got a head start on her coursework and is graduating from OHIO in just three years.

“It’s like I’m a graduating junior, “ she says. That also means Grant is headed to graduate school a year early.

She is applying to a Ph.D. program at Oklahoma State University to study depression and anxiety in adolescents and children. “More specifically, they have a few faculty members who focus on anxiety and depression, and they work really closely with the hospital. My ultimate goal is to work in a hospital.”

‘I Knew I Wanted to Work with Kids’

Grant’s interest in child psychology was sparked all the way back in high school, in one of her dual enrollment classes at the University of Toledo.

“It was an abnormal psych class, and we had just gone over child and adolescent comorbidity of depression and anxiety disorders and the different treatments,” she says. “It just drew my attention out of everything we had talked about.”

“At that point, I knew I wanted to study psychology, and I knew I wanted to work with kids.”

This interest was further sparked in Athens by Dr. Frances Wymbs Child Disorders class. Grant counts the class as the “best she’s taken” in the Psychology Department.

“After I took that class, it kind of sealed the deal that I wanted to work with kids.”

Getting Hands-on Experience

While on campus, Grant has been actively involved in research. She works as a research assistant in the Center for Intervention Research in Schools (CIRS) lab, logging data and giving out measurements for a project focusing on the prevalence of ADHD in Lancaster schools.

“It costs a lot of money for a student to be held back because of their disorders,” Grant explains. Then, the team will see how they can better assist the students and the faculty members.

“The CIRS lab does so much,” Grant says.

When she’s not working in the lab, Grant is involved in Psych Club, Delta Zeta sorority, the Order of Omega, and the End Slavery movement, an organization aimed at spreading awareness of human trafficking.

Grant’s not only highly involved, she’s also an exceptional student. She was recently awarded a Distinguished Professor scholarship award, which covered a full year’s tuition. Recipients do not apply for the award, but instead are nominated by a faculty member.

‘They Want to See You Succeed’

Coming from her dual enrollment classes in high school, Grant has a unique perspective on the Psychology Department. Drawing from her previous experience with advisers, she explains what sets Ohio University’s faculty apart.

“The professors in OHIO’s Psychology Department are always there to help you. They want you to come to their office hours; they want to see you succeed, and they want to see you become a graduate of Ohio University,” she says.

Grant says the department’s support extends beyond the classroom, as many faculty and staff members have helped her seek out opportunities and prepare for her graduate career.

“I’m really thankful for all the opportunities that the Psychology Department has provided me with,” she adds. “I feel like if I was at a different school, I wouldn’t be on the same track with the same mindset that I have here.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*