I was so excited to begin grad school. I remember thinking that at last I would be surrounded by people as highly motivated and genuinely eager to bring about healing and growth in the world as I was. By the end of my first year, I was feeling somewhat disillusioned. I found, in contrast to my perhaps unrealistic expectations, that there were just as many people committed to mediocrity in grad school as anywhere else in life. I was fortunate in that there was a small group of like-minded students in my year level, and as it turned out, we all ended up not only becoming friends, but we all served in leadership positions at the local, state, and national levels.

I began my journey of involvement in the professional psychological associations in the same realm as the one in which I now serve, that of governmental affairs. A fellow student and I noticed that our student senate was somewhat inward-focused, and did not attempt to reach out and establish connections with the larger world of psychology. We established a governmental affairs committee on our senate, and began to reach out to our local (Los Angeles County) and state (California) psychological associations as well as to APAGS. We researched the current state and federal policy issues pertinent to professional psychology. We brought back information to our fellow students about the forces that define every aspect of our ability to practice our eventual profession; information we received in no class.

I think that the small group of five or six of us who got involved (out of several hundred students at our large professional school) in the associations would all agree that we accomplished much on behalf of our fellow students, psychologists, and mental health patients, and that we benefited tremendously from our experiences. We became representatives to local and state psychological association boards of directors. We became the student representatives on APA division boards. We became APAGS committee members. We became the driving force behind the creation of the second-largest psychology grad student association in the country (CPAGS). We created multicultural summits and graduate student tracks at psychological conventions. In working with our local and state associations, we raised grad student participation in the governance of those associations to new levels, changes which were later adopted by the APA. We met members of our state legislature and members of Congress as we advocated on behalf of organized psychology and for better, more comprehensive care for our patients. We gave countless presentations and wrote columns and articles for publications ranging from local newsletters to the APA Monitor. By the time each of us graduated, we knew and had worked with leaders of the profession who most students had only read about.

I think I speak for my fellow activist friends when I say that we did all these things because we had a desire to make a difference at larger levels than simply working with our patients, although that is work we love as well. We saw needs going unmet, and knew that we had the ability to do something about them. We perceived early on that there are forces at work that remain unnoticed by many professionals, and that if we do not seek to be a part of those forces, they will define our profession for us. Many of us have received awards for our work as grad students in the associations, reflecting the contributions that people feel we've made. It is tremendously empowering to know that you have made a difference at the community level, at the societal level. I think we all feel very fortunate and grateful for the experiences we've had; for the opportunity to work with and learn from leaders in our field, and to help shape the field we will ultimately inherit from our teachers and mentors. We also created a group of friends who I suspect will be friends for life, and who are on our way to becoming leaders of the field in our own right.

You don't need to be a full-time activist in order to contribute and benefit from participating in our professional associations. Get involved in whatever way is comfortable for you. First, just join an organization! Then take a look at how the association is organized, and find a committee you'd like to participate in. It's that simple. If you get involved, I guarantee you'll find that your grad school experience has been more rewarding than if you remained an uninvolved student just trying to get through school.

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