VCU news

By Lydia Dodd

Making connections is a strength for Sydney Griffin. At Virginia Commonwealth University, she even brought together her background in theater, her care of her brother and her work in research support to forge an ongoing exploration of psychology.   

Griffin will graduate in December, but when she began her college studies in 2017, neither psychology nor VCU was among her plans. She attended Longwood University to study theater education and elementary education, and on stage, she embraced the different emotions of characters she portrayed – and later realized how immersing the audience in that experience was an exercise in psychology.

“I always thought that was a really interesting phenomenon, and that was definitely my favorite part of theater,” Griffin said. 

But after two years and the realization that college life wasn’t an ideal fit at the time, she took a gap year. Then the pandemic hit, and that one-year break turned into three.

After returning to her hometown of Midlothian and working numerous jobs, Griffin listened to a podcast that sparked her curiosity about psychology as a field. In addition to identifying its connection to her theater work, she reflected on its role in her family life.

When Griffin was young, her parents put her in counseling – her older brother is on the autism spectrum – to help her navigate and validate her feelings as a sibling and caretaker. This experience also inspired Griffin to pursue a psychology degree, and her brother remains a major source of motivation.

“[He] gives me purpose in a lot of ways,” she said. “He drives me to want to do bigger and better things to help care for him and have the life that I want.”

With this newfound interest, Griffin enrolled in VCU in 2022 and began studying psychology.

Marcia Winter, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Psychology in the College of Humanities and Sciences, recommended that Griffin take a service-learning course. The research-heavy class partnered with the Children’s Museum of Richmond to teach youths and their families about development through games and similar demonstrations. This sparked a passion for research.

“I feel like [psychology research] is exactly what I want to do,” Griffin said. “It combines all of my interests, and it plays to all of my strengths in ways that I have never really been able to do before.”

Griffin is involved in numerous research labs, including the Building Wealth and Health Network, which aims to break the cycle of familial poverty by educating low-income families about financial literacy. And last year, Winter encouraged Griffin to apply for a teaching assistant position in another of Winter’s service-learning courses.

“She definitely took a chance on me, letting me be a research assistant with zero experience,” Griffin said of Winter. “I definitely would not be where I am today without the opportunities that she’s given me.”

Griffin said her VCU studies have enhanced the care she provides for her brother – and her interest in helping others. Outside of the classroom, Griffin volunteers with Jacob’s Chance, a local nonprofit that provides athletic experiences to people with physical and intellectual disabilities. The experience also has brought her closer to her brother.

Griffin’s goal is to become a psychology professor and researcher, building on the strategies she has learned so far.

“I want to do a community-based approach because I think it’s really important to have the community’s input when you’re conducting research,” she said, noting how solutions can reach the target population faster than more traditional lab-based approaches.

To reach her goal, Griffin plans to pursue a Ph.D. in psychology, concentrating on development or cognition. At the top of her list of graduate schools? VCU – a place where she has made plenty of connections.