![\"praska_capitol\"](\"http:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2013\/04\/praska_capitol.jpg\")
David Praska wanted to be a dentist and follow in the footsteps of his uncle, a successful orthodontist. “He had this great lifestyle, and I really wanted that,” Praska says. So in high school and the first two years of college, he focused on biology. “But I was never really good at it.”<\/p>\n
Then he went to see Lisa Jack, an assistant professor of psychology at Augsburg. He said he was interested in psychology, and she asked him why. “I told her I liked watching people and how they operate,” Praska explained. The next thing he knew, they were mapping out a strategy for him to complete the psychology major in two years.<\/p>\n
And that’s how David Praska, psychology major, found himself at the State Capitol building talking to legislators and guests about his research on therapies for children with obsessive-compulsive disorder.<\/p>\n
Praska was one of several scholars presenting at the Minnesota Private College Scholars at the Capitol day in February. Caitlin Massop, another Augsburg psychology student, also presented a poster but was unable to attend the Capitol event. Both students were advised in their research by assistant professor of psychology, Stacy Freiheit.<\/p>\n
As he delved into the psychology field, Praska became interested in the subject of attraction between people\u2014couples, friends, and family members. He talked with other professors and began exploring a career in marriage and family therapy, where he hopes to reach out specifically to Mexican American families.<\/p>\n
“I found out that many Mexican American couples will go to a marriage counselor for one session and never return, and I had questions about that,” Praska says. He hopes to focus his graduate studies on therapy with minority groups and to “bridge the gap” between therapists and people of different cultures.<\/p>\n
Praska spent most of last summer in the lab conducting research through the McNair program. “I was a little nervous when I started because I had never done a project like that myself,” he says. But he says he learned valuable lessons about communication and research through the program. “It was well worth it because I grew up as a researcher and as a student.”<\/p>\n
Praska and other scholars will present research as part of Zyzzogeton, Augsburg’s annual festival of creativity and scholarship. The Zyzzogeton research poster session will be Thursday, April 15 from 3:30-5:30 Oren Gateway Center Atrium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
David Praska wanted to be a dentist and follow in the footsteps of his uncle, a successful orthodontist. “He had this great lifestyle, and I really wanted that,” Praska says. So in high school and the first two years of college, he focused on biology. “But I was never really good at it.” Then he …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[476,779,1954,2167,2361,2683,2694],"class_list":["post-1508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-caitlin-massop","tag-david-praska","tag-minnesota-private-college-scholars","tag-obsessive-compulsive-disorder","tag-psychology","tag-stacy-freiheit","tag-state-capitol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}