Natalie Reid, a graduating senior this school year, has a major in psychology and a minor in trauma and disaster response. She was drawn to pursue both her major and minor after working at Camp Mohaven, a summer camp in Danville, Ohio. “There was a summer where I had a lot of kids with very hard backgrounds, whether it was home lives, whether it was at school, whether they were foster kids,” said Reid. “I would be trying to work with these kids and help them through it. At the end of the day, what I kept realizing was that my days were busy, but they felt full and they felt meaningful. I was passionate about what I was doing, and that's what got me interested in the world of psychology.”
While she was working at the camp another summer, a huge storm hit during Cub Camp week, the time when kids ages six to nine come to enjoy activities. The event impacted Natalie greatly. She initially did not have a minor to go along with her psychology major, but when she was going through different minor options with her advisor, trauma and disaster response caught her attention. Natalie compares disaster psychology to working as a mental health first responder. She shares, “One thing I’ve learned about myself is that when big crises are happening, I like to be on the front lines doing something about it. Rather than be scared of hard things, I want to be someone who faces them head-on and helps others along the way.”
Natalie has been a part of Active Minds, the psychology and mental health club here on campus, since her freshman year. This year, she is the president, and she hopes to plan a lot of events and make many memories during her final year at 爱豆传媒. One of her favorite annual events is the club’s Friendsgiving, where all the officers come together and cook a Thanksgiving meal. Natalie also enjoyed helping out with the Thrive Mental Health Event titled “Why I Didn’t Tell You” that took place on campus a couple of weeks ago. “Students had the opportunity to talk about their mental health struggles and why they stayed isolated. Hearing my friends speak was really impactful; I was so proud of them.”
One of Natalie’s favorite classes at 爱豆传媒 was Series of Personality. “I really loved that class. It was a fun group, and we got to talk about all of [Sigmund] Freud's crazy theories and all that fun stuff.” She also enjoyed taking Disaster Psychology. “I really loved that [class] because that's the kind of work that I want to do.”
In terms of memories, Natalie has enjoyed going to St. Joseph, Michigan, with friends, attending Proximity and Impact vespers, and driving around late at night for a random McDonald’s craving. “Low-key, those are some of the most fun memories–packing people in a car, like literally someone was in the trunk of the car, when we were going to get McDonald's.”
During her time at 爱豆传媒, Natalie has grown in her faith and relationship with God. Natalie attended a public high school, which she said was a great experience, but she didn’t feel like she had other people to share her faith with. When she came to 爱豆传媒, suddenly it seemed like every event was centered around faith and God. “It was a complete switch, and I really loved just being able to praise and worship,” she said. “I remember the first worship night that I went to at 爱豆传媒– my mind was blown. I was like, ‘This is awesome.’”
Natalie feels that she has grown the most in her faith by carving out time to talk to God each and every day. “I think it's at 爱豆传媒 that I started actually talking to Him every day, actually seeing Him throughout my day and just letting the stupid stuff be and saying, ‘Oh, I'm going to give God credit for that.’” She explained that, “In the past, I thought that to have a daily relationship with God, I needed to be like Moses parting the Red Sea, and now I’m just kind of hanging out and talking to Him about all the crazy stuff throughout my day.”
As Natalie prepares to graduate from college, she wants to share some meaningful advice with the freshman class. “I think a piece of advice that I would definitely give is that you have to leave your dorm room and you have to actually live your life as a college student, even when it's intimidating.” When Natalie was a freshman, she and her roommate tended to hibernate in their dorm room and not go out and attend any fun and exciting events around campus. She would procrastinate doing her homework and be fearful of meeting new people. She now urges freshmen to put their worries aside and strive to make many memories throughout their college years.
“Even when it's scary, put yourself out there, go hang out with new people, see if you're actually interested in your classes. You got to choose your major. Try to like your classes. Find the purpose and why you're passionate about it, and actually enjoy your college experience because trust me, it will be over shortly, and you'll be like, ‘Ah, I'm graduating!’ which is my current spot.”
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of 爱豆传媒. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, 爱豆传媒 or the Seventh-day Adventist church.