Birth to Five Team

This semester, the Peer Lab is big enough that we need two teams! The Birth to Five team is predominantly responsible for our kindergarten readiness project with Birth to Five. They are also working on eye tracking research. The team consists of two seniors (Karli Oxford-Jordan & Megan Hut) and two juniors (Carly Taylor & Lara Khalifeh).

Megan Hut: I am from the Netherlands. I am a senior and I am double majoring in Psychology and Spanish & Hispanic Studies. This past summer I did an internship with a child psychologist in the Netherlands. I mostly worked with a group of young girls teaching them social skills. It was a great experience where I learned a lot. I also biked the northern route of the Camino de Santiago in Spain, that was quite an adventure! I am hoping to pursue a career either in children’s psychology or sport psychology.

Lara Khalifeh: I’m a junior from Lebanon. I’m majoring in Psychology and minoring in Business. I’ve been part of this Lab since my freshman year, and each year this lab never failed to help me grow. I am interested in research and specifically child-related research, which makes this Lab perfect for me. Over the summer, I had the opportunity work as a full-time research assistant at this Peer Lab for 6 weeks. After that, I went back home to relax and see my family. I zip lined ,hiked, and attended many weddings. I also got the chance to regularly visit the Psychology Department of the Lebanese National Association of the Handicapped, a major treatment facility for autistic children that I volunteered at last summer

Karli Oxford-Jordan: Hi! This is my second year with the Peer Lab, and I’m excited to be back. This Summer, I worked with Dr. Reavis on a full-time schedule for six weeks and continued the research we’ve been conducting. During that time, I attended the International Conference in Infant Studies (ICIS) in New Orleans; there’s an earlier blog post about my experience if you’re interested. After that, I spent some time traveling and visited family in sunny California. Finally, I spent my last month of Summer splitting my time between working at the Early Child Development Lab at University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and volunteering at the Infant Cognition Labrun by Reneé Baillargeon. I was lucky enough to get a firsthand look at how a larger lab runs their experiments, negotiates the needs of a large staff, and does “good research.” Finally, I came back a few weeks early for Resident Assistant training and am back for my senior year at Earlham!
I’m so excited to be doing research again with Dr. Reavis because it allows me to work with a professional in the field. With her guidance, I can be sure that I am thinking critically about the research we conduct as well as my own research and the field as a whole. I am also working on developing important skills that will be essential to my personal success in my intended career of being an infant researcher. Plus, we have a large group this year made up of two excellent teams who are excited to learn about the work we do.

Carly Taylor: I am a junior psychology major. I am planning on obtaining my PhD in order to become a clinical psychologist, making research an important skill for my future schooling. Although I am currently undecided about what age group I would like to work with later in life, I am excited to gain experience with children in the Peer Lab. Over the summer, I worked with ResCare Workforce Services for the second year in a row as a case manager for cash recipients in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families government program in Cincinnati. I created case plans for the participants’ activity in the program and assisted them with obtaining the resources they needed to become self-sufficient. I also had the opportunity to exercise horses at an Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy Program just outside of Cincinnati.