{"id":26834,"date":"2026-09-15T16:36:28","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T16:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-education\/?p=26834"},"modified":"2026-09-16T19:12:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T19:12:22","slug":"putting-psychology-into-practice-through-community-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-education\/blog\/putting-psychology-into-practice-through-community-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Putting Psychology Into Practice Through Community Service"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NAU College of Education Clinical Psychology students joined Special Olympics Arizona athletes in Gilbert, combining community service with the relationship-building skills at the heart of their professional preparation.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Learning to become a psychologist happens in classrooms, clinical settings, and research environments, but opportunities to engage with people and communities can provide another important dimension of professional growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students from the Northern Arizona University College of Education’s Clinical Psychology program recently put that idea into action by volunteering at the Special Olympics Topgolf Tournament in Gilbert, Arizona.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approximately 200 Special Olympics athletes participated in the tournament, competing for medals while volunteers helped make the event possible. COE’s Volunteers in Psychology (VIP’s) joined the effort, helping with scorekeeping and awarding medals to participating athletes.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Five<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Volunteers in Psychology at the Special Olympics Topgolf Tournament in Gilbert, Arizona. From left: Cala Green, Erin Potter, Mike McCarthy, Amber Brewer, and Leah Kahldon.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning through community engagement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For COE students, volunteering provides an opportunity to contribute to Arizona communities while developing experiences that complement their academic and professional preparation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the tournament, that meant doing more than keeping scores. Students interacted with athletes, celebrated their accomplishments, and helped create an environment in which participants could compete, connect, and be recognized for their achievements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those experiences reflect an important dimension of psychology: working with people means building relationships, communicating across individual differences, recognizing strengths, and participating meaningfully in the communities psychologists serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faculty participation also provided an opportunity for students and faculty to engage alongside one another outside traditional academic and clinical settings. Mike McCarthy, a faculty member in the Clinical Psychology program, joined students Cala Green, Erin Potter, Amber Brewer, and Leah Kahldon at the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connecting COE with Arizona communities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Topgolf Tournament is one of a variety of events Special Olympics Arizona sponsors throughout the year to provide opportunities for athletes with intellectual disabilities to participate in sports, competition, and community activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the College of Education, participating in events like this also reflects a broader commitment to connecting professional preparation with community engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COE students are preparing for careers that depend upon understanding and working with people. Opportunities to serve alongside community organizations allow students to experience those relationships in different settings while contributing their own time and talents to the communities around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the Volunteers in Psychology, a day at Topgolf offered a simple but meaningful way to put that commitment into practice: show up, help out, build connections, and celebrate the accomplishments of others.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We appreciate Cala, Erin, Amber, Leah, and Mike for representing the College of Education and contributing their time to Special Olympics Arizona and its athletes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interested in getting involved? Special Olympics Arizona<\/a> offers volunteer opportunities at events throughout the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAU College of Education Clinical Psychology students joined Special Olympics Arizona athletes in Gilbert, combining community service with the relationship-building skills at the heart of their professional preparation. Learning to become a psychologist happens in classrooms, clinical settings, and research environments, but opportunities to engage with people and communities can provide another important dimension of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":221,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,30,27],"tags":[46,47,48],"class_list":["post-26834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arizona-community-impact","category-clinical-psychology-news","category-student-life","tag-community-engagement","tag-experiential-learning","tag-special-olympics-arizona"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26834"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26838,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26834\/revisions\/26838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}