Around 2 years ago, and approximately 2 months after my high school graduation, I deferred from NYU and chose to serve as a Mormon missionary in Honduras. It was an experience that was both unique and challenging at the same time. I had the opportunity to live among the Honduran people, living on a $6 daily budget, and traveled from the capital city and all the way to more isolated villages to interact with strangers (at least at first) about their beliefs and circumstances.
I worked face-to-face with various individuals and assisted in proposing solutions to a spectrum of human conditions related to poverty, violence (both gang and domestic), addiction, family disintegration, mental illness, teen pregnancy, suicidal ideation, and more.
Each day was an adventure, and I recall taking into account various psychological theories that I had been taught as I approached these interactions. As a student in the Applied Psychology program, I believe that my mission experience was one of the best “laboratories” I’ve ever had. There are certain things one cannot learn simply from gauging a book; rather, being exposed to the field itself not only highlighted the practicality of my knowledge but reminded me of why I am interested in this field. Instruction is insufficient without the experience to capture the full beauty of psychology.
-Spencer Judd