Student Feature
And Dr. Wallace wasn’t going to have it if I was
just taking random classes.”
Ironically, Frost said he probably does not want
to work with children during his psychology
career. “I just enjoy being with kids too much,”
he explained. “There’s a lot of tragic stories you
might hear, and I don’t know if I could handle
it (as a counselor).”
Another added benefit Siena Heights provided was a chance to experience campus life.
Additional financial support from community
members allowed him to live in the residence
halls, which he said has enriched his educational experience.
“It was a different atmosphere compared to
JCC,” Frost said. “It felt like I was getting that
college experience I kind of felt like I was
deprived of.”
He said although he didn’t know many of the
students at Siena Heights, he was familiar with
some of the faculty, which made a big difference
in his move to a four-year environment.
“The fit with Siena, as far as being able to meet
with professors, know them on a first-name basis
before I came, made me a lot more comfortable
with the transition,” Frost said. “(Faculty) would
talk with me. They would also take time out
from whatever they were doing to talk to me.
I liked that a lot.”
To prepare himself for graduate school, Frost
completed a research internship at WisconsinMadison last summer, and continues in his role
this summer as a staff member at the Boys and
Girls Club (above).
“I’ve done pretty much every job you can do,”
Frost said of his club duties. “The thing I enjoy
the most about it is building relationships with
the kids. When you walk in, you are strangers to
them and they are strangers to you. And after a
week, you build bonds with them really quickly.
The most effective part of the club is kids really
do change. It’s not big, huge changes, but incremental changes. … But first you have to build
that relationship with them.”
After completing his PhD, he plans on entering
psychological counseling/therapy, or perhaps
conducting research or teaching. Whatever his
future brings, he said he can’t wait to begin his
next educational challenge in August.
“I’m in the best possible position I could be in,
and that’s thanks to in large part to everybody
in the community,” Frost said. “The more people
invested in me, the more pressure I felt to be
successful and push m