1. Heather Hayden
Professional
My name is Heather Hayden, and I am currently a student at IUPUI. My academic standing at
this university is that of a junior. I am actively pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in
Psychology, and am still weighing the many options which I can pursue upon my completion of
my undergraduate degree. The world of Psychology is very exciting and interesting to me. I
have yet to explore all fields of psychology, but the ones that seem to hold my interest the most
are developmental psychology, sports psychology, and social psychology. Developmental
Psychology holds my interest because it shows how complex we are as humans. Developmental
Psychology shows how much of a complex being humans really are. It was fascinating for me to
learn the gradual processes our brain goes through to become the people we are in our current
state, and in some sense the reason behind some behaviors people have acquired. Social
psychology essentially helps us see how our interactions with others and our interactions with
our environment shape us as people, and even influence how we perceive ourselves. Sports
Psychology is a topic that really interests me because I have been a multi-sport athlete for many
years, so I am no stranger to the process of imagery, motivation, and focus. These are all things
that I uses for years to help with my athletics, and they really work. I chose psychology as my
major, because I love working with people. I am very outgoing and get along easily with others
and also people fascinate me. Mostly I chose Psychology as my major because I want to help
people and make a difference in their lives.
Experience

2. For the last seven years I have worked in food services as a cashier, and a kitchen worker. In my
time in this field I have acquired many skills such as communication both with my coworkers as
well as our customers. Teamwork is also the basis of our operation because we have to work
together to make sure our customers’ orders are made correctly, as well as in a timely fashion.
When working with people customer service is something that is very important to have. I have
learned that all customers are different and have different needs and expectations. The needs of
the customer needs and satisfaction of the customer have to be put first. Working in food
services we get new employees all the time, and with my experience I have been often asked to
train new employees. These opportunities have helped me gain skills in teaching others. In the
future I would love to gain more experience with skills such as how to effectively deal with
conflict in the work place as well as management skills.
Self-Assessment
My signature theme report states that my strongest talents are being a developer, consistency,
responsibility, achiever, and belief. In my opinion this is telling me that I love helping people
and pushing them to reach their full potential as well as pushing myself to reach my own. I also
am always looking for balance in my life. I do not believe in treating people differently I feel in
the work place people should be rewarded for their hard work and achievement, and not give
people unfair advantages over others for any given reason. Everyone should be treated equally
and given a fair chance. I am a perfectionist and once I start something I do not give up no
matter how difficult it may be to reach the end. This is something that has been instilled in me
since I was little a saying that I heard often was, “Quitters never win, and Winners never quit”.
Regardless of the results I will always finish what I start and put my full effort in it until the end.
I often set goals for myself to reach maybe not on a weekly basis but sometimes monthly. I

3. always take pride in reaching my goals because there is no better feeling for me than achieving
my goals. One thing I am really wanting is to be part of something meaningful, and get to be
myself while doing it. With all of these strengths also come weaknesses. I know this is kind of
cliché, but I have the biggest fear of public speaking. This is mostly because I am very shy, and
do not like talking in front of people I am not very familiar with. Once I get to know people they
cannot get me to shut up, but speaking in front of a group of strangers fills me with the worst
feelings of anxiety I have ever experienced. This is my first year at IUPUI, I am a transfer
student and I live off campus so I do not interact with many people on campus. Therefore I have
been making more of an effort to reach out to my classmates, and in the process I have
thankfully made some new friends. This is clearly a very small step in reaching a place where I
am more comfortable with public speaking, but I feel it is a process and I am trying my best to
improve every day. The professional I want to become would be someone who is very driven
and ambitious, works well in a team, motivational, courageous, and a courteous and strong
leader.