Meet the Co-Presidents

I had the pleasure of sitting down with the co-presidents of the Queen’s Psychology Department Student Council (DSC), Maya Newton and Olivia Doyle.

In this interview, they share their insights about their roles on the DSC, their goals for the upcoming semester, and their experiences as Queen’s psychology students. Both Maya and Olivia are very excited to represent the psychology community here at Queen’s for the 2024-2025 year. Continue reading below to learn more about our wonderful co-presidents!

Photo of Maya Newton (left) & Olivia Doyle (right)

Q: Can you please introduce yourselves? (ex. Year of study, major, involvement on campus)

Maya: Hi, my name is Maya! I am a Bachelor of Arts Psychology major and I am in my third year. This year I am involved in the Psychology DSC as a co-president, and I also sit on the Arts and Science Undergraduate Society (ASUS) assembly as a Social Science Academic Representative.  

Olivia: Hi, my name is Olivia! I am a Bachelor of Science Psychology major and I am also in my third year. This year I am involved in the Psychology DSC as a co-president.

Q: What made you both want to run for Co-President, and why did you want to get involved in the psychology DSC? 

Maya: I was looking for a way to get involved with the psychology department, and I thought that the DSC would be a great opportunity to meet other students and professors while also getting more involved with the student body. I remember seeing the opportunity posted in my inbox and thinking I should go for it, and it ended up working out! 

Olivia: When I saw the application for the DSC, I knew I wanted to apply. I was also looking to get involved with the psychology department, and when I reviewed the role description and saw that I would be interacting with professors and working with a team, I thought this would be a unique experience. I saw this role as a valuable leadership opportunity that I could learn from. 

Q: What made you choose to pursue psychology at Queen’s University? 

Maya: Growing up, I always wanted to be something different. In high school I considered pursuing law, so I ended up going into psychology because I wanted a degree that would complement a potential future in law. However, once I started taking PSYC 100 in first year and became exposed to all the material, I knew psychology was the right program for me. 

Olivia: As far back as I can remember, I knew that I wanted to pursue psychology. I was always super interested in the fields of psychology, neuroscience, forensics, true crime, and learning about the brain. There was a time when I was in between a few schools, but on the very last day I chose Queen’s, and I am very happy about that decision!

Q: Which courses have been your favourite thus far at Queen’s? 

Maya: I would say Advanced Adult Clinical Psychology (PSYC 336) is one of my favorite courses because I enjoy learning about the area of clinical psychology. I think it is good background knowledge to learn about mental disorders and the different aspects of them, especially if I end up pursuing a career in clinical psychology. I also really enjoyed the Neurobiology and Psychology of Sleep (PSYC 360). I found this course to be super interesting, as sleep is a very in-depth process, despite it being constantly overlooked. Plus, the professor for this course is very passionate about the topic! 

Olivia: I would say Functional Neuroimaging (PSYC 376) is one of my favourites, as this course surprised me and the content has been extremely interesting to learn about. I also enjoyed Brain and Behaviour I (PSYC 271). Both of these courses cover super interesting topics, and I think learning about the brain is important. I find studying the specific structures and functions of each area of the brain, as well as the pathways and neural circuits to be very cool. 

Q: What goals are you most excited to accomplish this year as DSC co-presidents? (including both personal and team goals) 

Olivia: Going into this year, I was personally excited to learn from this type of leadership role. Growing up, I was always involved in sports and I gained leadership experience as a former captain of various teams (including hockey and soccer), but I was hoping this role would teach me a different side of leadership. So far, I have learned about organization and time management on a different level than just school. Being able to manage school on top of the extracurricular DSC tasks, such as answering emails, attending meetings, and leading a team, has been super important, as this role can be demanding at times. 

Maya: My personal goals are similar to Olivia’s in the sense that I was excited to learn about leadership in an academic sense. I enjoy having responsibilities and making sure that I am being a good leader for our DSC team. I want to make sure that people are comfortable and confident when coming to me for help or support. 

As for our group goals, we want our DSC events to run successfully and smoothly, and we are motivated to fulfill our duties of representing all psychology students here at Queen’s. Additionally, we want to emphasize focusing on our DSC members. Making sure that our team bonds and connects throughout the year is also super important to us. 

Olivia: From the beginning, we both wanted to make sure the council felt like a team. We aim to foster an open environment where all members feel comfortable sharing their ideas or concerns with us. 

Q: What advice would you give to incoming psychology students?

Maya: I think that PSYC 100 can be a large and intimidating course, so sometimes students may worry that upper-year psychology courses will also be high-intensity in nature and will cover a large variety of areas and topics in psychology. Although upper-year courses are still challenging, of course, it is important to remember that the psychology courses become more focused and specific. I find that the specificity of upper-year psychology courses has helped me thrive and perform better academically than I did previously in PSYC 100. After first year, you get the freedom to choose which types of psychology courses to take based on your interests. I would advise incoming psychology students to stay open-minded and remember that they will be able to explore many different pathways in psychology after first year. 

As well, I would recommend getting to know other students in the psychology program. I think getting involved in opportunities that allow you to meet other psychology students is super important, and can be very helpful in terms of studying and simply having people to talk to. 

Olivia: I agree with Maya that finding others in the psychology program is super helpful. I think psychology can sometimes be a misunderstood degree, so having others to relate to and know exactly what you are going through is important. 

I would also recommend using your second year to explore your interests in psychology. By fully engaging yourself in the material of your mandatory second year psychology courses, this can help you discover which areas and pathways in psychology you are most interested in. And, of course, make sure to stay caught up with your readings!