Event of young talents – Media effects & more

I recently visited the American School in Paris for a psychology event.

Sonata Sardinha, Learning Specialist and Psychologist and Christopher Friendly, Psychology and History Teacher did an amazing job organising the event and helping the students to consolidate their projects.

The energy of the students and the staff was contagious, and I was really impressed by the students’ skills, eloquence and enthusiasm when they presented their projects.

It was refreshing to hear what the students like and dislike, to see their creativity by designing clothes, advertisements, and music, but it was also interesting to hear their concerns and self-reflections about topics we should bring to the table more often.

Among the topics there were those related to my area of research expertise such as “When the Web Becomes a Trap”, “Researching the Impact of Social Media on one’s Self-Image”, “How Influencers and Social Media can Affect Eating Behaviours and Lifestyles”, “Health Promotion Through the Study of Depression in a Character from a TV Show” and “The Impact of Immersive Experiences on Human Behaviour”. The last one gave me a nice surprise when I saw my research on Game Transfer Phenomena cited in the project.

The final projects of the course “Project-based learning” were without a doubt a great opportunity for the students to be creative and show their talents.

I hope these students further develop their skills; so, in the future they can become professionals that passionately pursue their dreams.

In my experience, dreams don’t simply become true, we need to build them little by little with passion and a lot of patience!

Everything starts with an idea, with the skills to develop it, but most importantly the confidence that you can make it become true!