Significant impact on development

Personal Statement

My educational and professional backgrounds have had a significant impact on my development and growth and consequently directed my decision to apply to the Graduate Program to pursue a master’s in Industrial-Organizational Psychology. With the credentials from my academic background, I have built a professional portfolio by working in various employment an additional self-education that I wish you appreciate. From May 2016 to October 2017, I was grateful to have had the opportunity to work for the second biggest ice manufacturing company in the Republic of Panama. During my time at the company, I was tasked with various duties both during my initial starting position and my last position of employment. Initially, I was tasked with the management of a inventory of around 1000 electronic spare parts, maintenance, preparation of purchase orders, and keeping an account of the inventory. Through hard work and consistent performance, I was promoted to a sales assistant, which was my final position at the company. Under this position, I would travel through the country, supervising a total of twenty employees and providing assessments of customer services that were rendered to our main clients who comprised of hotels, restaurants, stores, and supermarkets. Part of my work after conducting the assessments was to make weekly reports of the surveys concerning any customer complaints, asset losses, and any other reported event that affected the quality of customer service. I would also report on the result of the evaluation of the twenty employees that I was supervising. My duties as a sales assistant also included assisting with the technical enhancement of delivery routines by availing descriptions of the car routes and any other intermediary event that occurred during each ice delivery. Besides my employment, I have also dedicated my time to voluntary services. I volunteered with FSU Panama’s Change Club and also took part in an array of charity events, some of which included working at animal shelters. While undertaking my child psychology class, I also volunteered at a local orphanage situated in Panama. One aspect that enabled me to work well as I volunteered in the mentioned activities is that I am bilingual. I can speak and write in both Spanish and English, which is a factor that has always given me an upper hand in communication around my areas of interaction.

My college studies began in May 2016 at Florida State University in the Republic of Panama. During my first year in college, my major geared towards business, although this was not what I wanted to focus on throughout my studies. As a result, I did not perform as well as I had intended to. However, that might have been for the best as I later grew an intense passion for psychology, and by 2018, I eventually decided to change my major. My career line consequently changed, and my GPA significantly improved. I have had a wonderful time undertaking my studies and pursuing courses in personalities, research methods in psychology, social psychology, child psychology, body, language, and mind, abnormal psychology, brain and behavior, and clinical psychology. Various topics, while undertaking these classes, caught my attention. I developed a life-long curiosity about the working of the human mind and the existence of social behaviors at a subconscious level. To date, I would say that I am more inclined to learn about the social aspect of humans and their personalities. During my college time, I also developed an interest in learning about stereotyping, personalities, prejudice, and their relation to personal experiences and environmental factors. Among my favorite moments of the class was learning how human beings develop an unconscious prejudice of others. Also, I enjoyed learning how to understand different personalities with differing developmental and evolutionary perspectives.

Besides academics, I also engaged in extra curriculum activities while at the university. From 2018-2019, I had one of the four positions in the Florida State University Cayuco Boat Team. In Panama, this was regarded as one of the most prestigious sports. The sport consists of Teams of 4 that paddle together; hence it was very demanding. A participant has to train and paddle for at least one year to be able to complete a 43-mile race across the Panama Canal. The race is referred to as the ocean to ocean race because participants commence the race in the Pacific Ocean and finish in the Atlantic Ocean. During this period, I was also a member of “friendship,” which was one of the champion dragon boat teams. As a member of this team, I was fortunate to participate and win several podiums across countries for the Pan American Dragon boat association. These experiences helped in molding the person that I am today as I learned many important values, such as group work, solidarity, coordination, patience, trust, and endurance. These values have empowered me not to give up on my dreams regardless of the hurdles that I might encounter.

My experiences both in college, work, and in my personal life have motivated me to develop myself as an individual, which is why I have a strong desire to continue advancing my studies. I believe that this will set a good ground for me to be an influential person in the world. I intend to work hard to broaden my knowledge in the field and possibly pursue a Ph.D. later on. I am a strong believer that no one can exist on their own. Hence, I am always supportive of teamwork, and I work well in groups. I am always ready to offer a helping hand where needed and share my knowledge as I also learn from others. My passion for what I do is the main driving force behind my persistence, and I always ensure that I give 100% input in all of my work. I am diligent with responsibilities, and I believe in accountability. Finally, I recognize that learning is a never-ending process. Hence, I always aim to improve my listening skills and to be a positive person by offering positive contributions and going the extra mile when needed. My goal is to do what I can with what I have to make myself better for society, for myself, and for those who have contributed to making me the person I am today.