Warriors of the Mind

Giving back to your community is the most effective thing we can do to maintain and build our institutions. Specifically, our psychology program prepares students to actively give back to our community. Serving as mental guides to steer our society in the healthiest mind frame possible. Our psychology program provides our students with courses to explore different aspects of behavior. Once the psychology program is completed, students will receive a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
As students, we will soon be responsible as alumni for maintaining the programs and creating more to benefit our youth. JaNaia Brewer is a senior psychology major from Dallas Texas. She explained that her love for psychology stemmed from home. “My little one suffers from a condition called ODD (oppositional deficiency disorder).” Brewer had to watch her sister transition from one personality to an unrecognizable being.
It took her mother finally coming to terms with the illness and getting help for JaNia to realize psychology is her calling. When asked why the Black community ignores our mental health, she responded, “I feel like we go through denial.”
She believes it becomes a matter of parents not wanting to hear that their child is suffering from mental illness. Brewer feels it is essential for students to remember the institutions that provided the education needed for their desired field.
In terms of improving the Psychology Department, JaNix suggests adding more professor diversity in areas like statistics, psych testing, and to benefit students that learn best with different teaching styles available. Brewer is also a member of Psi Chi, an International Honors Society in Psychology. She wants more advisors to be involved in providing more help and resources to advocate. Brewer hopes after graduation to donate to the psychology department for all she has learned.
Southern’s Psychology program is filled with current students and professors who work tirelessly to get a better understanding of how to help our community mentally. The mission statement of Southern’s psychology program is to “prepare students to compete globally and address human need.”
An alumnus from 1970 felt that our program was so significant, that she dedicated a large sum of money to the program. Winnona Jackson was a psychology major and graduated in 1970 from Southern University. As a Baton Rouge native, she understood the need to give back to her community and donated $10,000 to the Department of Psychology. Her donation was meant to support students aspiring to fill leadership positions in government and private industry.
After graduating high school, it was time to move into college. Unfortunately, Jackson’s parents could not afford her college tuition. Without her parents’ knowledge, Jackson arrived at a local bank at 17 in order to talk with a loan officer about college funding. The officer was so impressed that he decided to fund her education per semester as long as she maintained an excellent GPA. She paid her loans in full by graduation.
Unfortunately, Ms. Jackson passed away on Oct. 16, 2021. Giving back to our community whether it be financially, creating more resources for our students, or keeping our school. The importance of taking studies seriously cannot be overstated.