David Baskind | Inspiring Others to Improve Their Lives

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My Journey to #AchieveMore

When you ask some kids what they want to be when they grow up, they will say 'a teacher'. That was not me. I was a quiet student who knew the answer, but was afraid to speak up. However, I did have a passion for psychology. I was curious about what made people who they are and how people could improve the quality of their lives through changes in sleep, diet, relationships, and mental health. I have been teaching for more than 25 years and I still am seeking answers. As an educator, I also want to inspire students' curiosity and help them to live better lives. Psychology is a much broader field than people imagine. Students come in expecting to learn about people with mental health problems and how to help them. They come away with an understanding of topics such as: how stress impacts us, getting better sleep, boosting memory, human development, parts of the brain, understanding what we see, and many more. I teach at a community college where students are diverse in terms of age, income, gender, race, reading skills, knowledge, desire to learn, and so on. My goal is to help students understand people (and hopefully, themselves!) better. This is a difficult task, but I relish the challenge. I love hearing my students' stories and I feel successful when answering their questions. Whether we discuss alcohol usage, sexuality, suicide, or other topics, I know that my students will be interested and that they will have questions and/or stories. My goal is to inspire students to want to learn more about psychology and to improve the quality of their lives. Psychology studies what people do every second of every day of our lives. My hope is that I can help students make their lives better.

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