Name: Destiny Erskine
Birthday: June 3rd
Classification: Senior
Major: Psychology/African American studies
What are your favorite quotes?
“Comparison is a brutal attack on oneself”
“I am deliberate and afraid of nothing”
What organization are you apart of on campus?
BWOMEN, AAPSA, and Blueprint Connect Mentoring program.
What are your positions in those organizations?
President/President
Who was your best professor and why?
Dr. Jamison, he helped me navigate through college and potential career options. He also put me in touch with people that were in my perspective career fields to help me narrow down what I actually wanted to do.
Why did you major in Psychology and minor in African American studies?
I’ve always been interested in psychology and for a long time I wanted to be a psychiatrist. I liked the fact that this major would help develop me as a person. I minored in African American studies because I grew up in predominantly white schools and neighborhoods and I was generally rejected by my peers that were Black. So, I guess I wanted to take African American studies to see what was considered to be authentically Black since I hadn’t been considered that by my peers. The question “so what is Blackness?” was definitely on my mind with every class I registered for.
What is your career plan?
I am attending FSU in the fall for school psychology. Once I graduate I plan to work in schools that have predominantly Black student bodies. I’d like to offer free counseling to families and students that are in need, but otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford a counselor or even consider counseling as well as develop intervention and prevention programs to target mental health issues in the Black community.
Do you plan to use your career goals to bring change in the African American community?
Definitely! Like I said, I want to work directly with African American students and their families to enact change.
Who is your favorite Black Psychologist?
I love them all, especially some of the contemporary Black Psychologists. Some of my fave Black psychologists are Dr. Frantz Fanon and Dr. Frances Cress Welsing. Both were Black psychiatrists whose life’s work was confronting racism and using Eurocentric psychology theories to show the prejudice and racism of others.
What is the best information that you have learned from psychology, that you currently use on a daily basis.
I would like to self care but I don’t use self care as much as I should. I think the best thing I’ve learned is just about stress and coping in general. I can recognize when I’m getting stressed and most of the time I can find a way to cope with the stress and calm myself down.
What advice do you have for Black Women, who plan to attend a PWI?
Find a group of women that look like you that are willing to uplift you, empower you, and see your abilities even when you can’t see them yourself. A group or one woman.
What are your feelings about Graduation?
Honestly I’m kind of apathetic about graduation. It’s exciting I guess, one degree under my belt but I’m not like thrilled like other people. I wasn’t super thrilled about my high school graduation either. I’ll be excited when I graduate with my PhD until then it’s kind of like “meh”.
Fun part: Tell, me your best memory of college. It could be something that made you laugh or a concert ect..
I have a series of favorite moments but the number one would be just working with a student organization at Ramsay and getting to teach the high schoolers about different psychological concepts and just mentoring and sharing my passion.
What’s next…
What are your goals after college.
My biggest short term goal presently is to begin drafting papers so that I can get published in the Journal of Urban Education and the Journal of Negro Education. Aside from the educational stuff I’m moving to Florida in two weeks and I’m excited about that. I’m going on a cruise in June to celebrate my graduation with my family and my boyfriend’s family.