During the summer many people traveled far distances, some for leisure, some to take part in community service projects and some for academic programs. But, some students were not aware that right in the comfort of their school was a summer institute program offering academic and elective courses similar to those attended afar.
A new class, taught by Honors and AP Psychology and Honors Government teacher Mrs. Krisynda Cicos, the Abnormal Psychology summer course, was offered by the Summer Institute. The course, which had five students enrolled, occurred July 1-19 during the second summer session. Each participant received half a credit upon passing the course.
“This class really looked at specific disorders: understanding the symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis,” Mrs. Cicos said. “In general psych, there isn’t enough time to go in-depth. In AP Psychology, we discussed disorders and treatments, but it was only surface coverage. This class took a full day’s class of four hours on each case of disorders.”
Senior Lauren Fadel, who will be taking Honors Psychology this school year, enrolled in the Abnormal Psychology course and said the class benefited her knowledge of psychology as well as furthered her interest in the social science.
“The course was very interesting and my favorite part of it was just being able to learn about psychological disorders in general,” Fadel said. “I intend on pursuing a clinical psychology-related career in the future, and this course really proved it to me.”
Mrs, Cicos explained that she believes the importance of this course is in informing students about mental illnesses and their legitimacy. She set a goal to limit student’s use of terms such as “OCD” and “depressed” through her teachings of these disorders, (See “Sadness is not Depression” on iPatriotPost.com) showing they are not things to joke about.
Although this is the first year this course was offered, Mrs. Cicos said she enjoyed teaching it and hopes she can teach it in the future as well.
