{"id":212768,"date":"2024-04-18T12:27:26","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T16:27:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=212768"},"modified":"2024-04-18T12:36:27","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T16:36:27","slug":"dana-parrott-24-college-of-liberal-arts-and-sciences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2024\/04\/dana-parrott-24-college-of-liberal-arts-and-sciences\/","title":{"rendered":"Dana Parrott \u201924, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally from Milford, Dana Parrott \u201924 (CLAS) was diagnosed with Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy at 7 years old after she started experiencing muscle weakness and feeling as if she “couldn\u2019t keep up.” Since her diagnosis, she\u2019s had to reshape what her life looks like, including becoming a power wheelchair user and enduring multiple surgeries. In Dana\u2019s words, she\u2019s clearly \u201cdone something right,\u201d as she\u2019s now graduating from UConn with a bachelor\u2019s degree in psychological sciences. <\/span><\/p>\n

Why did you choose to go to UConn?<\/strong>
\n<\/span>I always knew that I wanted to go to a big school, and I was interested in the sports culture and being part of a \u201cpack.\u201d I also knew UConn\u2019s academics were competitive and after touring campus, I fell in love with it.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

What drew you to your field of study?<\/strong>
\n<\/span>I was originally pre-med and focused a lot on biology and the physical body, but in my experience, I don\u2019t have control over my physical body. I have control over my mind. After taking a few psychology courses, I found there are more ways to help people than being a doctor studying physical medicine. Our minds and our mental health are just as important as our physical health.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Did you have a favorite professor or class?<\/strong>
\n<\/span>Definitely shout out to Keith Bellizzi<\/a>. He\u2019s awesome. I had him only this semester, but he instantly became one of my favorite professors. Also, Jonas Miller<\/a>, who was my professor but also gave me my first experience working in the Biobehavioral Adjustment and Neurodevelopment (BAND) Lab as a research assistant.<\/span><\/p>\n

What activities were you involved in as a student?\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nI was a part of HuskyTHON, where I was a dancer representative for one year and a morale captain this year. I also was a part of the Brazilian Student Association all throughout college and sat on the E-board for multiple years. I did a lot of clubs like Special Olympics Committee, and I was a mentor through the METAS program with the Puerto Rican<\/span>\/<\/span>Latin American Cultural Center. My biggest extracurricular is that I play power wheelchair soccer, so I commute to Massachusetts every weekend to practice. I\u2019m organizing a tournament at UConn, The Husky Cup, for right before graduation on April 28 at the Field House. <\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s one thing that surprised you about UConn?\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>
\nI was surprised at how much UConn can feel like home. I never expected to find so much comfort in a place that wasn\u2019t with my family or where I grew up.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

What was it like starting college during the pandemic?\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nIt was definitely hard on me because I wanted to be on campus so bad, and I wanted the social aspect. In high school, I had a very hard time, and I was really looking for a fresh start. It felt like the fresh start was delayed.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

What are your plans for after graduation?\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>
\nMy plan is to try and find work in the psychology field and get experience in research and the mental health field. I eventually want to go for a Ph.D. in psychology.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

How has UConn prepared you for the next chapter in life?\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>
\nFrom my classes, I feel very knowledgeable and confident that as I start in the actual field, I\u2019m not starting from a blank slate. I have knowledge and have worked in a research lab already, so it takes the scariness away a bit.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Any advice for incoming students?\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>
\nTry to get involved as much as you can, as cliche as it sounds. Don\u2019t be too hard on yourself. One bad grade doesn\u2019t mean a bad resume; it doesn\u2019t define you. You\u2019re going to make mistakes and that\u2019s okay; in the end, it will all work out because hard work always pays off.<\/span><\/p>\n

What will always make you think of UConn?\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>
\nDefinitely huskies and college basketball.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dana Parrott reflects on her time at UConn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":212587,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2226,2373],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2610],"class_list":["post-212768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clas","category-psychological-sciences"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-09 08:50:02","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212768"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212802,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212768\/revisions\/212802"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/212587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212768"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=212768"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=212768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}