Photo by Orin Zyvan ’04

Aaron Call ’10

psychology

Hometown: Whittier, California

How Reed changed me: My time at Reed made me realize how much I truly love learning. I learned the value of collaboration and the importance of perspective. The experience was incredibly valuable. I’m very thankful to have had the opportunity to go to Reed. The scholarships and financial aid made a big difference.

Influential book: Carl Jung’s Man and his Symbols got me hooked on psychology before I had taken a single course.

Cool stuff I did: Met many wonderful, amazing people. Had profound experiences that taught me the value of perspective. Took a leave of absence, spent three years in the U.S. Navy. Came back, wrote a thesis, spun poi.

Who's the dog?: Her name is Ruby. Her sweet, charming personality always helps me feel better, even in the face of busy schedules and tons of work. She helped with my thesis by drawing numbers from a hat to randomize the order of questions for one of the measures I used.

Adviser: Prof. Jaime Kurtz

Thesis:  Mindfulness for Children: A Pillow You Can Take Anywhere?

What it’s about: Mindfulness is very beneficial to adults; there is good reason to believe it is for children as well but much less research saying so. I assessed mindfulness and its correlates in third through fifth graders and then taught a 4-week mindfulness class to children after school.

What it’s really about: Teaching kids to use the skills of mindfulness: non-judgmental self-regulation of attention.

What’s next: Getting married! Do research in a psychology lab. Apply for graduate school.