Getting to Know You: Xingyao Chen
Xingyao Chen – INTO & Educational Psychology
Year: Second-year graduate student
What brought you to WSU?
I decided to apply for my master’s degree. I started my undergraduate psychology degree in China. I wanted to choose a more specific degree. I always choose a major first. Even in China, I chose my major first. I chose educational psychology. WSU had that and INTO provided a pathway program.
What led you to become an Assistive Living Advisor (ALA) for ROAR?
I found the job online. I want to make what I learn to be meaningful. I think the best way to achieve my goal is to get a job that applies. We don’t want what we learn to just exist on book and paper. Being an ALA is the best way to help me practice my knowledge.
What advice do you have for students in the INTO program?
For us non-native English speakers, reading is important. Work hard but don’t forget to play. Don’t forget to enjoy your life.
How has INTO impacted you?
They give me enough knowledge to enter the graduate program. As I get into the program and the homework becomes more and more, the program provides a basement for me to get used to these things.
What do you enjoy most about spending time with the ROAR students?
I enjoy chatting with them so I can learn a lot of things I didn’t know before and having activities with them. Last month I took them to play basketball and bowling ball. For my major, I really enjoy listening to people’s experience. I need to know their experience so I can help them.
What are your plans for after graduation?
I am thinking about going deeper into this field to a Ph. D. If this fails, I would go back to China and think about being a school counselor or advisor. In China, some teens are under pressure from the school, from family, and from society. Almost every year there will be 1 or 2 suicides from the school I come from. Teachers in China, their teaching methods and the homework make students feel like they can do nothing but study and it increases anxiety. That is the reason I want to be the school counselor so that I can help the situation. They need to know how to solve the anxiety rather than keeping it inside. I can’t change all of China but I can serve the students in the school where I would be working.
Why do you think educational psychology is important?
As soon as we’re born we start learning. Human beings are social animals so learning is an important skill for us to survive. Children can learn from their parents, teachers, or their peers. If the subject they learn from has an understanding of educational psychology they will provide a stronger mode and environment of learning for children.