aikenstandard.com - trusted local news for Aiken , SC

Sports Living Opinion Obituaries North Augusta

Calendar Forums Photo Galleries AIken County City of Aiken City of North Augusta Aiken County Public Schools

Current Story and PDF archive Heritage Archive: 1870 to June 2007 E-Newspaper Photo Galleries

Real Estate Jobs All Classifieds Place an Ad

Staff Directory Report Web Problems Manage Newspaper Account Place a Print or Web Ad Subscribe Wedding Form Engagement Form

TV - times See All Special Sections

National News Video

Top Jobs

Science and Technology

Headlines | mouseover panels to open

World

Nation

State

Local

Graduate has already made a difference
5/9/2008 2:51 AM

0 comment(s) on this story

E-mail this story to a friend

By ROB NOVITSenior writerWhile attending Aiken High School, Colby Moseley was active in All-Star cheerleading and community sports and rather laid back about academics.Then she arrived at USC Aiken and made a 4.0 after the first semester. “Why hadn’t I doing this all along?” she said.Moseley graduated summa cum laude Thursday night and addressed her classmates as the outstanding senior graduate. The psychology major earned rave reviews from her professors.“As I reflect on my 22 years at USC Aiken,” said department chair Dr. Ed Callen in a nominating letter, “I cannot think of a student more qualified and deserving of this (award) than Colby. She epitomizes the student-scholar-citizen at the highest level.”In 2007 the S.C. Psychological Association awarded Moseley with the Outstanding Undergraduate Award. An Honors Program graduate, she also received a Magellan Scholar Award from the University of South Carolina for the recently completed spring semester.Moseley discovered psychology as a high school senior and enjoyed the opportunity for hands-on activities outside the classroom. She chose USCA with the expectation that a smaller school would allow her to get more attention from the professors.“I got to know a lot of them and they were amazingly friendly, almost like best friends,” said Moseley, who for the past two years was the chief student assistant in the department’s laboratory.When Dr. Beverly Fortson joined the department more than two years ago, Moseley began working with her on research projects and sharing Fortson’s interest in children and issues of abuse and neglect. During her own research, she studied the resilience of children housed at Helping Hands, a residential facility for kids removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect. Through surveys and interviews, Moseley found that children who had a higher level of support from their families or other social outlets were able to cope with their situations more effectively.She worked with Fortson in providing a class for foster parents, helping them deal with abused kids who had experienced negative outcomes. They also taught stress management that the foster parents could pass on to help the kids cope with new schools and people and being taken away from their parents and familiar environment.“The foster parents’ response was really positive,” Moseley said. “We found some of them were coming beyond their required sessions.”She plans to remain at USCA to pursue a master’s degree in applied clinical psychology. Fortson, too, said Moseley “stands out above all” the hundreds of undergraduates she has taught in the past seven years.“Colby is a leader among her peers both inside and outside of the classroom,” Fortson wrote. “…One of Colby’s greatest assets, I believe, is her ability to work well with others, including faculty, staff and students. She approaches each task given to her with the utmost dignity and professionalism.”Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com

Share this story: