As soon as I visited Concordia, I was blown away. I could not have pictured going anywhere else.
When Kathryn Potter visited Concordia for the first time, she fell in love with the campus. “I was expecting to come here and not find what I was looking for, and I was not expecting to be blown away. The location is great. It is a small town, but there are other places nearby to be able to make connections.”
Kathryn’s experiences when she was younger led her to find ways to help others, which she found in her major. “I always knew that I wanted to major in psychology. When I was younger, I struggled with mental health myself. I love that people in the psychology field have the opportunity to have a specific impact on the individual by making that connection with them.”
She especially enjoys the connections she gets to make in her major. “There’s a lot of variety in the program. There are people from a wide variety of activities and social groups in the program.” Kathryn is especially grateful for this variety. “I was planning on playing volleyball here until I got injured. After my injury, I was really concerned that I would have a tough time finding a group, but everyone was very welcoming." Kathryn feels that this welcoming nature extends to the professors. “My mom was in Africa a few years ago for work and the professors were so considerate about it. They frequently asked me how she was doing, but they also made time to make sure I was doing okay as well. That was really awesome for me.”
Much like her mother, Kathryn has big plans for her future in psychology. “I’m currently looking at trauma-informed therapy for kids in the foster care system. The goal is to help kids who have gone through trauma to live lives as normal as possible.” Kathryn was informed of these opportunities from the people she had around her at Concordia. “Dr. Kathy Miller introduced me to trauma-informed therapy. I’m looking at a Ph.D. program right now, and Dr. Sara Brady was the one who told me a lot about the Ph.D. and master’s programs.”
This is an ambitious plan, but Kathryn believes ambition is the key to success at Concordia, and in life. “I would say that you should be willing to branch out outside of class. Never stop exploring your opportunities, and never stay satisfied. Connections you make here are so beneficial, and like nothing you’ll ever experience, but you won’t get them unless you reach out.”