Engaging Psychology’s Future Playbook

• Use our tips for finding schools and educational partners. Events may be held at either a high school or community college campus in the United States. If preferred, the event may be held at a U.S. 4-year college or university; however, the majority intended audience needs to be high school and/or community college students.
• Work closely with school administrators.
  • High schools and school districts have laws, policies, and procedures that must be followed when planning and implementing on-site school events with minors. For example, they may have a process you need to follow to inform parents about the event, parental consent and student assent may be required for certain activities, and external speakers may need to be registered in some way with the school.

• Use our tips for assembling teams.
• Invite 2–5 psychology professionals from your local region to participate in person at your event.
• Events should include psychologists with doctoral or master’s degrees who represent varied career applications and training areas in psychology.
  • At least one speaker must hold a doctoral degree in psychology.
  • All speakers should be able to be in-person at the event. In the rare occasion that a preferred speaker is only available virtually, that speaker may participate by videoconference, as long as other speakers and the audience are in person and the host is able to provide the technology needed for a speaker to virtually interact with the audience.
  • Graduate students currently enrolled in a master’s or doctoral program can also be part of the speaker team.
  • Undergraduate students may be interested in helping with your planning, particularly those who are members of the psychology honor societies or college/university-based psychology clubs. Undergraduate students may be able to help by searching for, and communicating with, potential speakers, printing flyers or handouts, and planning for snacks.
• Consider selecting psychology professionals who work in career fields that may be of particular interest to your unique audience. For example, students with identities that are traditionally underrepresented in psychology and those committed to social justice may be particularly interested in learning about how psychology can solve challenges affecting underserved communities.
• Request a brief biography from your speakers to use for introductions.
• APA will not be conducting background checks on the speakers. If background checks are required by the school, that is the responsibility of the host and/or school.

Event structure

• Plan for an in-person event that allows for engaging group discussion and dynamic interaction (e.g., sitting in a circle). Cultivate a comfortable space that welcomes interaction, which can make sessions more engaging and memorable.
• If a larger audience is planned, plan for opportunities to break into smaller discussion groups.
• Event and venue accessibility: Please attend to participant and speaker accessibility needs.
• Safety and supervision: Given that participants may be minors, ensure that all speakers are appropriately vetted and that there is adequate adult supervision throughout the event. This includes having a clear plan for monitoring interactions between students and speakers to ensure a safe and respectful environment. Compliance with any school or venue-specific safety protocols is essential to protect all attendees.
• Speakers should avoid sharing information that may be inappropriate content for children under 18. That may include, but is not limited to sexually explicit material, profanity, violence, graphic content, or information or encouragement of illegal activities. We recommend that speakers consult with the host and school administrators to receive clear guidance on content and conduct that is considered inappropriate in the specific school context.
• Events must take place at a high school or on a community college campus in the U.S. If preferred, the event may be held at a U.S. 4-year college or university; however, the majority intended audience needs to be high school and/or community college students. (Note: Applications that propose to offer the event at a setting other than a high school, community college, or 4-year college or university campus setting (e.g., at a public library or other venue) will not be funded.)

Event timing

• Several practical factors may influence the timing and duration of your event (e.g., more time may be needed for larger groups; time will be constrained if the event is offered during a scheduled class). We estimate that most events will run for between 50 minutes to 1.5 hours.

Key elements of the event

• Start the event by displaying the talking points slidesopens in new window, which include the welcome videoopens in new window with APA President Debra Kawahara describing the Engaging Psychology’s Future initiative (on slide two). Use the talking points to provide a quick overview of the three paths for students who study psychology in college (direct into workforce, other graduate degrees that value psychology coursework, graduate school for psychology) and the broad diversity of psychology subfields.
• Briefly introduce your speakers (and students if the audience is small enough).
• To provide inspiration and practical advice to students, ask the speakers to share their story, including their academic background, past and current career(s), critical experiences (i.e., successes and challenges), advice for navigating education and careers, and what they find exciting and meaningful about their career.
• Encourage questions after each speaker. Students may need some prompting, but could be encouraged to ask about educational paths, opportunities to apply for scholarships or other forms of funding, and psychology subfields.
• Speakers should be clear that the career stories and advice they share reflect their own personal experiences and opinions and that they are not speaking as representatives of APA (although speakers are encouraged to draw from APA resources).

• Events must take place at either a high school or community college campus in the United States. If preferred, the event may be held at a U.S. 4-year college or university; however, the majority intended audience needs to be high school and/or community college students. (Note: We support our international colleagues and their efforts to educate future generations of psychologists and encourage the use of the playbook and resources; however, funding for this initiative is limited to U.S.-based schools.)
• If awarded, funding can be used to purchase refreshments (as allowed by local policies) and print resource handouts, posters, and event signage (as needed).

• Modify this sample template parental letteropens in new window and flyeropens in new window provided for your convenience to provide information about the event and spark interest.

• Arrive early to set up your space.
• Welcome psychology professional speakers, student participants, guardians, and any other attendees.
• Note the number of participants that are present, as we ask for that in your feedback form.
• Toward the end of the event, please ask all attendees (including speakers and yourself as host) to use the QR code you will receive to share their feedback on the event and ideas.
  • You as the host are asked to complete the form as well.
• Thank everyone for attending and make sure the space is clean and in its original configuration before you leave.

Congratulations for inspiring the next generation of psychology professionals!