Psi Alpha, the high school national honor society in psychology, has had its busiest year yet, introducing more than 20 new chapters since the beginning of the school year. The organization is nearing 4,000 members and sees new applications weekly. Looking ahead to the next few months, Psi Alpha intends to initiate a research project, asking students and chapters to form focus groups to identify the research interests of our Psi Alpha members. There are high hopes to grow these research topics into full, IRB-approved research projects. Our high school members will have the opportunity to participate in forming a research hypothesis, collecting data, and publishing their results.
Additionally, Psi Alpha is expanding its scholarship program, looking to award more scholarships than ever before. Awards include nominations for outstanding psychology student, outstanding advisor, and our annual Chapter Excellence Award. We continue to publish a quarterly newsletter that highlights chapter projects, community involvement, and other updates from our national council. We are so proud of all the amazing activities our chapters are involved in, and we cannot wait to continue our growth to support high school psychology.
For more information about how to start a chapter at your school, please visit the Psi Alpha Resources and Informationopens in new window webpage or reach out to Kristen Mitzel, the Psi Alpha director of operations, for additional information about how to get involved with our ever-expanding organization.
Kristen Mitzel is the current director of operations for Psi Alpha and is studying school counseling and clinical mental health counseling at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, where she currently resides. She is a graduate assistant for the elementary education department and her research interests include trauma informed care for youth and animal assisted therapy. She has a therapy dog named Eli, who she is currently integrating in programming with her students. She is a marching band and color guard instructor for local high schools, and enjoys gardening, traveling, and training her two dogs.
