{"id":213226,"date":"2026-01-09T14:04:57","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T19:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/?p=213226"},"modified":"2026-01-12T08:41:41","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T13:41:41","slug":"saying-yes-to-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/2026\/01\/09\/saying-yes-to-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"Saying Yes to Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Hajar Ismailzada, education has always been more than a goal\u2014it has been a source of purpose. A graduate of 麻豆传媒在线\u2019s Master of Arts program in Clinical Psychology, Hajar is currently completing her internship year toward School Psychology certification, a path that blends her long-standing love of learning with a commitment to supporting students\u2019 academic, social, and emotional well-being.<\/p>\n

As a student, Hajar initially imagined a future in teaching. That changed during a high school psychology course, when she became fascinated by how students learn and grow\u2014and how psychological insight could support that process. Discovering school psychology felt like \u201ca perfect blend\u201d of education and psychology, setting her on a path she has followed with intention ever since.<\/p>\n

One of the most formative experiences in her graduate program came during Practicum in Psychoeducational Assessment I and II, where she served as a graduate clinician in the university\u2019s Psychoeducational Services Clinic. The practicum marked the moment when theory truly met practice. Working directly with students and families helped the work feel \u201creal and meaningful in a new way,\u201d she says. Under the guidance of Dr. Lauren Schaible<\/a> and Dr. Julia Coyne<\/a>, Hajar learned to look beyond test scores and use data to tell a fuller story about a student\u2019s learning, behavior, and lived experience.<\/p>\n

Outside the classroom, Hajar spent two years as a graduate assistant with the Office for Faculty Excellence<\/a>, an experience that reshaped how she views higher education and her own potential. Mentored by Emily Isaacs<\/a>, she contributed to initiatives focused on student belonging, retention, and success, and engaged with faculty development and academic leadership work across campus. \u201cFrom day one, I felt welcomed, supported, and encouraged to grow,\u201d she reflects. The experience pushed her beyond her comfort zone and sparked an interest in academia that continues to shape her future goals.<\/p>\n

\"Hajar<\/figure>\n

Through her assistantship, Hajar also became deeply involved in research on student belonging among first-year CHSS students. She worked on a research team that implemented a belonging intervention in the GNED199 course, focusing on qualitative analysis of student reflections and connecting those findings to quantitative data. Presenting the results at the AAC&U Conference on Learning and Student Success in Puerto Rico, marked a defining moment in her graduate career and reinforced her confidence as a scholar. She later presented the work at 麻豆传媒在线\u2019s Student Research Symposium.<\/p>\n

Hajar is currently completing a 1,200-hour internship while preparing to earn her Nationally Certified School Psychologist credential. Looking ahead, she plans to continue working as a school psychologist while pursuing doctoral studies, with the goal of becoming a licensed psychologist and professor.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on her time in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hajar says she learned that education is not just about earning a degree, but about discovering how to use knowledge in service of others. Her advice to future students is simple, but hard-earned: say yes. \u201cIt may seem intimidating at first, but some of the most meaningful experiences I\u2019ve had at 麻豆传媒在线 happened because I did say \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clinical Psychology graduate Hajar Ismailzada bridges research, practice, and belonging in schools<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":213227,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,15,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-213226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-7_homepage-news-and-events","category-268_psychology","category-student-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213226"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":213235,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213226\/revisions\/213235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}