| Personal Information | |
|---|---|
| Applicant Name | Mollie McDonald |
| Applicant Email | Email hidden; Javascript is required. |
| Training Level | Postdoctoral Resident |
| City of Residence | Salisbury, NC |
| Distance to Chicago, IL | > 2 hour flight |
| Age | 33 |
| Gender identity and pronouns | woman she/her/hers |
| Have you ever attended an AACN annual meeting? | No |
| The following list includes characteristics of historically underrepresented groups. Please select all characteristics that represent you and/or describe other diverse facets of your identity in the “Other” option. |
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| Funding Opportunitites | |
| I would like to be considered for the following funding opportunities. |
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| If selected for both Student Leader/Assistant and SPS Conference Mentor, I would prefer: | SPS Conference Mentor |
| Application for Student Assistant | |
| By applying to be a student assistant, you agree to the following responsibilities/commitments: |  I carefully reviewed the above responsibilities/commitments and agree with all of them. |
| Would you like to be considered for complimentary lodging? | Yes, please. |
| In-Person Volunteer Slots |
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| Application for Conference Leader | |
| Application for Scholarship | Travel scholarship awardees are provided with free conference registration and reimbursement of up to $550 of travel expenses to support conference attendance, including meals, hotel stay, and airfare. |
| Application for Conference Mentor Award | |
| In 500 words or fewer, please describe (1) your prior mentorship experience and what you feel you can offer mentees from historically underrepresented backgrounds at the AACN annual meeting, and (2) how this mentorship experience will contribute to your professional goals. You also may describe the ways in which attending the AACN Annual Meeting would represent a financial hardship for you without this award. | As a first-generation college from a low socioeconomic status background turned PhD, I learned firsthand how mentorship programs can make immeasurable differences in academic and career trajectories. I have a longstanding history of involvement in mentorship programs both as a mentee and mentor, and the benefits I derived from these involvements were practical as well as meaningful in nature. Therefore, as I progress along my career path, I aim to continue participating in mentorship endeavors as a means of giving back to my professional community by facilitating the development of others who are earlier on in their career and, for myself, as a means of fulling professional goals which are consistent with my personal values.
I have an extensive history of providing mentorship, particularly to students and trainees who are members of marginalized communities. As an undergraduate, I served as a peer mentor providing guidance on research projects within the McNair Scholars Program, a program designed to support underrepresented students become involved in research to pursue doctoral-level graduate training. As a graduate student, I was involved in multiple mentorship roles, including serving as the University of Nevada Reno clinical psychology program's Mikawa Fellow. In service of the Mikawa Initiative, I provided one-on-one mentorship and facilitated professional development workshops for undergraduates of underrepresented ethno-racial identities who were interested in pursuing a career in clinical psychology. I also continue to provide mentorship to trainees from my graduate program, currently serving as a NV Drive Mentor to a first-year graduate student from my graduate program who is interested in pursuing specialization in neuropsychology. Outside of these formal roles, I also informally mentored a total of 17 research assistants of diverse identities who volunteered in my research lab during my graduate training, and I continue to provide ad-hoc mentorship to trainees whom I meet through networking opportunities. In sum, I would gladly apply the mentorship skills I have developed to serve as a mentor to undergraduate and post-bacc mentees at the AACN conference, including staying in contact to continue providing mentorship after the conclusion of the conference.
Despite my history of mentorship, it is still important to note that I am a member of the majority culture (i.e., white). Therefore, I attempt to approach mentorship in a way that is cultural sensitive and demonstrates cultural humility. For example, I put effort into self-reflecting and acknowledging how my personal world views may differ from my mentees and, thereby, create biases in my approach to mentorship. I also reflect on my own marginalized experiences (e.g., experiences as a queer person) and attempt to use those experiences as a way of better understanding the marginalization of others, despite the differences that exist between our backgrounds. Overall, diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are consistent with my personal values, and it is a professional goal of mine to continue providing mentorship throughout my career. Therefore, I would appreciate the opportunity to exercise this professional goal in the context of serving as a conference mentor for AACN. |
| Tiebreaker | 2 |
