2. Personal Statement Between the years of 2006 and 2008 I lost two friends due to their heroin addiction. As the saying states, “what doesn’t kill you can only make you stronger.” However, it was unfortunate that my two friends believed they were strong enough to not allow heroin to take their life. Prior to those deaths, I never knew which direction or degree I wanted to receive in college. I began to reassess my own life for the future and knew I would do whatever I had to in order to help juveniles and their chemical dependency addictions. As a person who has never been involved in substance abuse or addiction of any sort, I knew that experiences were my way into the brain of an addict and be able to understand what addiction really entailed and how to help others.
3. Personal Statement Continued… During my college years it became obvious that courses would not be the only answer to obtaining insight on addiction. I began to attend AA and NA meetings to get first-hand comprehension from those who have now changed their life and decided to stay sober. I overheard through mutual friends that a friend of five years was slowly slipping back into addiction. I attempted to be the best thing he had besides sobriety and offered my assistance in attending meetings or transporting him at the least. I made a promise that once I was qualified to fully understand his addiction to numerous substances I would be the one to ensure he receives the proper help he needs. However, in October 2010, eight months before I graduated, he overdosed on heroin as well. I believe that my personal passion and willingness to succeed could not become stronger or greater than it was previously, but when I stood by his coffin and knew all of the life experiences his was now going to miss out on I wasn’t going to let myself, my family, or all my previous friends who lost their life to addiction down.
4. Personal Statement Continued… Working and attending school full-time allowed my mind to stay busy and keep my spirits and motivated high. I was able to receive my bachelors in only a three year time frame and a GPA that placed me on the Presidential honors list throughout those semesters. With the busy schedule that I hold it has contributed to personal growth and the greatest sense of achievement. I have acquired skills of showing leadership by providing feedback to my boss on decisions in how to make the children become more knowledgeable in their studies, as well as what areas the children need more one-on-one time with. Personal skills of being communicative and analytical were also able to grow from the personal achievement of playing the leadership role when needed.
5. Personal Statement Continued… Based upon all the experiences I have endured throughout the past five years and the meetings and courses in which I have participated in allowed my decision of what to do after my undergraduate study is completed an easy task. Entering a graduate program right after graduation is the optimum decision. The graduate program that suits the knowledge I have gained and wish to acquire is receiving my Masters in Forensic Psychology. This will allow opportunities of working with juveniles who have already entered the criminal justice system for substance abuse related charges to receive the counseling and therapy that is so desperately needed so when adulthood is reached, the addiction has been overcome. I have no doubt that with the skills, abilities, experiences, motivation, and willingness to succeed I will succeed in my ultimate goal of saving lives of juveniles with addiction who still have a full life to be live. This would in turn become the ultimate satisfaction to know that even with three lives lost personally, chemical dependency addiction will not be able to overpower and take the life of every child.
22. Provide an indoor and outdoor environment to create a positive and safe learning environment for children
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24. Create a bond with juveniles to provide a sense of a safe and trusting environment
25. Work on skills and coping mechanisms to effectively prevent continuous substance abuseOTHER Interests: Traveling, running, social networking, child development, and criminal justice
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27. The program in which I completed at Argosy University has prepared me well for the graduate education challenges that I now wish to pursue. Graduating a full school year early from the Bachelors program displays the high level of motivation and willingness to succeed in the masters program and in my future. In addition to, throughout those years, I have consecutively been apart of the Deans Presidential Honors list with a 3.8 grade point average.
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29. Cognitive Abilities Cognitive Abilities: Critical Thinking and Information Literacy ASP100/ASP100_MarkuM4A2.ppt ASP100/ASP100_MarkuM5A2.ppt PSY422/PSY422_M7A2_MarkuD.doc
31. Communication Skills: Oral and Written Communication Skills: Oral and Written COM301/COM301_M3A2_MarkuD.doc Random School/M6_A2_Marku_D_pamphlet.doc
32. Ethics and Diversity Awareness Ethics and Diversity Awareness SOC416_M3A2_MarkuD.doc SOC416/SOC416_M5A2_MarkuD.doc
33. Foundations of Psychology Foundations of Psychology CJA105/CJA105M7_A2_MarkuD.doc PSY415/PSY415_M4A2_MarkuD.doc PSY415/PSY415_M6A2_MarkuD.doc
36. Critical Thinking Even though critical thinking has been an area in which needs improvement, there has been many assignments and presentations which have been able to increase my critical skill capabilities… CJA105/CJA105M7_A2_MarkuD.doc COM301/COM301_M3A2_MarkuD.doc Random School/M6_A2_Marku_D_pamphlet.doc PSY415/PSY415_M6A2_MarkuD.doc PSY415/PSY415_M3A2_MarkuD.doc PSY415/PSY415_M6A2_MarkuD.doc By continuing my education into a masters program, this will help to continue to increase my critical skill capabilities that need improvement.
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38. Working on my academic weaknesses: *Critical thinking given a psychological issue, *Oral communication skills when effectively presenting psychological concepts as appropriate to the audience, and *Knowledge of psychology in terms of recognizing the major concepts, theoretical perspectives, empirical findings, applications, and historical trends in psychology
