To sum up her graduate education, Amanda Alfano uses the word valuable. "I came to graduate school only knowing enough about the field of school and educational psychology to know that I wanted to pursue it for the rest of my life," the master's candidate says. "Now, a little less than two years later, I am well-versed in the acronyms that dominate this field, and I have deep understanding of the issues I will face as a practicing school psychologist."

In her undergraduate studies, Amanda completed an honors thesis called The Effects of Parental Substance Abuse on children's Play Themes in Therapy. Her passion for knowing through research continued in graduate school, and for the past year, she has been working with Dr. Tamara Hodges on a project concerning adolescent eating disorders. "Together, we have surveyed teachers and students in 6 local high schools to assess students' eating disorder risk and also to find out what teachers know about eating disorders," she says. "These results were recently presented at the 2009 National Association of School Psychologists conference in Boston, MA. "

Originally from Austin, Amanda earned her bachelor's degree in psychology from Baylor in 2007. When it came time to choose a school for her graduate education, she considered other schools, but just as before, Baylor stood out in many ways. "Not only was it a loved and familiar location for me, high program standards and a beautiful campus setting pointed me to the obvious choice of Baylor," she says.

However, she feels that the most salient distinction is how accessible the faculty is. "I have found the faculty at Baylor to be very knowledgeable, accessible, and friendly, and each one I have encountered in my graduate program takes an active interest in my success," Amanda says.

She regularly works in conjunction with the community of Waco in different capacities, whether counseling, cognitive testing or working with children in the Baylor Autism Resource Center. "I have seen a direct impact of my work," she says.

Amanda plans to continue her studies in a doctoral program in school psychology. "I would absolutely recommend this program to others, mainly because of the professors, because they care about you and what you take away from class," she says.