Name: Elizabeth Kim
TAC Project Name: Psychology Club
Number Impacted: 10
Tell us about your Take Action Challenge. Why did you start this project, what impact did you want to make?
My original idea was to start a mental awareness club, which is essentially spreading mental awareness and understanding what we’re feeling internally.
What did you accomplish?
At the club fair more than 20 people joined. We had meaningful discussions, such as mental stigma with gun shooting, the relationships between cults and conformity, and experiments that have happened around the world that deal with our brains. These topics are really important to learn about because they’re applicable in our lives and understanding the functionality of our brains and how they really affect us between our mind and behavior. Finally, I’m very happy that the club is continuing after I leave for college.
How did you overcome obstacles?
I wanted to have four workshops about different ideas such as stress management and ways to seek for health, but we ended up talking about different psychological ideas instead of having workshops. Challenges were people attending the meeting because some of the meetings coincided with other meetings of different clubs at my school. Another challenge was recruiting. I didn’t really know how I was going to have people join my club. Lastly, commitment is kind of a big issues because some people tend to flake, but attending these clubs is more of a responsibility than application. To overcome these challenges, I would send email reminders of meetings and I participated in a club fair to talk about my club. I also made flyers with my advisor and spread them around school.
If you could advice to a future YWLC participant about her Take Action Challenge, what would it be?
Ask for help! Most of the time people are afraid to ask for help because it may seem like they’re weak or they don’t want to be rejected, but people are willing to help you and I’m glad I asked for help from people at YWLC and school. Don’t be afraid to voice your opinions – just be expressive and be who you are. People genuinely want to listen to your ideas and support you in them. Lastly, just have fun. Doing this was something new to me and it’s definitely a valuable experience.
