Psychological foundations student, Kelsey Will, has been awarded the Women’s Philanthropic Leadership Circle Award (WPLC) for graduate students.

The WPLC award is for women graduate students to recognize their achievements and successes in their field of interest. The criteria for the award includes academic achievements, community involvement, leadership, and passion for the academic and professional career of choice.

Kelsey worked as a literacy tutor through the YMCA and St. Paul Public Libraries during her undergraduate career. She credits those experiences to what sparked her interest in supporting students’ learning and development related to reading. During the past couple of years, Kelsey has worked with preschool and elementary-age children who have been diagnosed with autism, which has furthered Kelsey’s interests in reading and comprehension skills in children.

As Kelsey explores career paths, she is interested in supporting children in reading and comprehension skills. She would like to not only support children at an individual level, but would also like to offer resources to teachers to understand the best methods to support students in the classrooms.  As a result in receiving this award, Kelsey will be able to present her research at the 26th Annual Meeting of the Society of Text and Discourse in Kassel, Germany in July 2016.