Statement of Lauren Cross

This September, I am entering my fourth year of teaching at Kearny High School in Kearny, New Jersey, where I am the sole psychology teacher and teach psychology full-time. My path to the classroom began with a master's degree in educational psychology and licensure as a school psychologist. However, with a Psychology CE, I found my passion in teaching psychology. When my school created a psychology teaching position, I was given the opportunity to develop the curriculum, teach the course, and grow the program to include Advanced Placement Psychology. I still work on the child study team in the summer when there is a position open.

During my second year of teaching, I expanded the program to include AP Psychology, creating more opportunities for students to engage with the field at an advanced level. Being the only psychology teacher in the building, I made professional development and collaboration with other psychology educators a top priority. I was grateful to participate in a virtual Advanced Placement conference in psychology with Maria Vita, a virtual AP Summer Institute through Manhattan College with Jessica Flitter, and, for 2 consecutive years, attend the Tri-State High School Psychology Teacher Workshop led by Christina Luzzi. This workshop brings together psychology teachers from across the tri-state area to network, collaborate, and share invaluable resources and best practices.

Most recently, through TOPSS/APF funding, I had the opportunity to attend the APA Workshop for High School Psychology Teachers, followed by the APA Annual Convention in Washington, DC. The whole experience has strengthened my commitment to psychology education and connected me with educators and professionals who share the same passion for expanding access to high-quality psychology education.

I am confident that my skills, experiences, and perspective would enable me to make meaningful contributions to this APA position. Every first day of school, I show my students the video High School Psychology: Better Understand Your World. It immediately highlights the value of psychology and gets students motivated to dive into the course. As someone still early in my teaching career, I bring a fresh perspective shaped by my experiences in the child study team, mental health, and, most importantly, the classroom. I have a unique opportunity to recognize what is working, identify areas where we can improve, and consider how we can make psychology education more meaningful and accessible to students everywhere.

TOPSS has been invaluable to my professional practice and has reinforced how important connection and collaboration among psychology educators is. One of the most challenging aspects of teaching psychology is navigating the many facets of the discipline. I always tell my students that none of us can be 100% experts in every division or area of psychology. That is the exact reason why sharing perspectives, ideas, resources, and effective strategies is so valuable. When we start that conversation and connect with one another, we strengthen our ability to teach even the most challenging topics and provide our students with a more genuine understanding of psychology.

Each school year, I establish goals that I hope to accomplish in my classroom and school community. While educators inevitably face numerous competing priorities and challenges, I believe that achieving even one goal that positively impacts students represents meaningful progress. So far, I have established a primarily student-driven Psychology Club and organized a field trip to AMC Theatres to see Inside Out 2. Students connected the film to concepts from our development unit, particularly adolescence, and were excited to learn that psychologist Lisa Damour consulted with Pixar on the film. That experience naturally led to conversations about psychology-related careers and the many possibilities available to students who wish to pursue a psychology degree.

Networking through the various professional development opportunities, Tri-State High School Psychology Teacher Workshops, as well as through APA, has been an enriching experience that has inspired me to think bigger and continually realign my classroom goals. I hope to establish a Psi Alpha chapter at my school, invite guest speakers into my classroom (including via Zoom), organize additional psychology-related field trips, and develop specialized psychology electives beyond on-level and AP Psychology, including courses such as sports psychology, positive psychology, and forensic psychology. I also want to incorporate more career-focused opportunities for students, drawing on resources such as The Skillful Psychology Student to help students understand how psychology can translate into meaningful academic and professional pathways. All of this expansive thinking would not be possible without TOPSS.

If elected, I would work collaboratively with the committee to help make these opportunities possible not only for my own students, but for psychology educators and students across the country. Karen Naufel’s presentation at APA 2026 was particularly inspiring because of the genuine passion and love for psychology she conveyed. I share that same deep love for the field and believe that passion and the idea of thinking bigger is something we can pass on to our students. Meaningful change begins with a conversation and a connection. I would truly be honored to help create those connections, share ideas, and contribute to the expansion of psychology education.