Senior Rachel Geyer has had the opportunity to pursue her strongest interests at Colgate. A double concentrator in Psychology and Spanish, she always knew that was what she wanted to study.

“I’ve always been interested in both psychology and Spanish,” Geyer said. “Since high school, I wanted to study abroad and learn Spanish, and I’m fascinated with how the mind works.” 

Geyer is specifically interested in child

psychology, and has worked with children both on campus and off. On campus, she is a co-founder and leader of M&M’s, a Madison mentoring program that works through the Max A. Shacknai Center for Outreach, Volunteerism and Education (COVE). The club is new this semester, and targets high risk students in Madison County. Students from Colgate visit their schools weekly to provide mentoring.  

Off campus, Geyer took time during her summers to continue working with children. She was a camp counselor with pre-school kids. The summer after her sophomore year, she worked at Stony Brook University Hospital in the in-patient child psychology unit. 

“I worked with a social worker, helping to connect the kids to resources in their communities, so once they got out of the hospital they could continue to receive care,” Geyer said.  

In her spare time, she also volunteered as a teaching assistant at Sagamore Children Psychiatric Center, where she tutored children who were receiving in-patient treatment. Geyer’s experiences over this summer helped her narrow her focus. 

“It was really eye-opening in the sense that people come from all sorts of situations and face different challenges, things I never had to think about. These kids are so young and they have so much against them, but there’s hope.” 

While Geyer has dedicated her time to the study of psychology, she’s had just as much of a chance to focus on Spanish. Her junior fall, she studied abroad in Madrid through Colgate’s program.

Now that she’s a senior, Geyer is thinking ahead about what she plans to do after graduation. However, she also has been reflecting on her time here. 

“I’ve had some amazing classes and have gotten to know great people,” Geyer said. “But as a first-year, I had a hard time. I learned to prioritize the things that made me happy. It’s okay not to know your place right away. You’re not stuck. Reach out and talk to your Link, or your professors. I found a lot of value doing that throughout my years here.”