Welcome, everybody.
I know that we're gonna have more, attendees coming in, but, I just wanna welcome you all to the webinar for the master's in psychology program, specifically focusing on the human services counseling concentration.
And today, I am thankful that I am hosting with doctor Robin Lynn Trepto.
She is faculty here at Divine Mercy University.
I'll just start very quickly to introduce myself.
I'm the admissions counselor.
My name is Greg Shapiro.
I've been the admissions counselor here with Divine Mercy for a little over a year.
I have a little over six years in this experience of helping students find the right program for them specifically within, within social services, whether it's within counseling or psychology or in, social work.
But I would love to turn this over to doctor Trepto.
Doctor, if you could if you could introduce yourself for us.
Sure.
So I guess everyone knows I'm, hailing from Montana.
So, I've been at Divine Mercy for about five years as a faculty, and, my background is I'm a clinical psychologist with a child and family focus.
That's from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
And then I also have a second doctorate in infant and early childhood development, with emphasis in mental health and developmental disabilities.
So that's really an emphasis in ages five and five and younger.
And the courses that I teach in the program, you'll see a few of those that are talked about today, but I will be teaching the, relating skills course, and it's gonna be a new fun course.
We've actually just revised it a bit, so that will be fun for you if you decide to come.
Excellent.
Thank you.
I'm gonna share my screen.
But as we're going through all the details, feel free to drop any questions that come to mind for you.
At the bottom screen, there's a chat section.
We also have the q and a section.
We'll be addressing them at the end, both, Doctor.
Trepto and I.
But, again, as we're going through it, any questions that come up, feel free to drop them in there.
So without further ado, let's get started.
And we'll be going over who we are as a university and also what the program for the master's in psychology will entail.
And then we're also going to go into the details of the concentrations, but more specifically into human services.
And then we'll also talk about the career opportunities.
Many of you might be looking toward this degree as a means to enter into the job market or maybe as a means to advance from what you're currently doing.
And then, also, we'll talk about funding.
We'll talk about scholarships, ways of reducing your tuition, and all of that.
So continuing on, I always like to begin by talking about the mission of the university.
It's really our bread and butter.
Our whole point as a school is that we integrate psychology with two thousand years of church teaching on human dignity.
We do approach it through the Catholic Christian metamodel of the person.
Doctor Treptoeff, if you could lean into this a little bit and share how the mission of the university is put into practice within this program.
Okay.
Sure.
I'd love to do that.
So we really are very mission driven in the master of psychology, program.
So we integrate the Catholic Christian meta model of the person into each of the courses.
So our moral theologian faculty, doctor Grows, integrates readings and also, some video materials and so forth.
So when you are in this program, you will pretty much be interacting with that Catholic Christian view of the person in each of your courses.
It might be a question about, if you're a human services professional and you are helping someone, let's say, as a case manager, how would you apply that in your work with that person?
And often that is things like dignity or, the virtues and really being aware of that person's value and worth that may not be emphasized to the same degree.
Sometimes it's questions like, so if I'm a person of faith, if I am living according to the Catholic Christian view of the person, and the person I'm helping isn't, How does that play out?
How do I do that in ways that are respectful of the other person?
And and then I know we're gonna talk about a new residency coming up later, but that's also we we go into the mission piece of that quite quite a bit in the residency.
So every course and then in the residency too.
Yeah.
And we we will go into those details, and that's that's great.
Along with that, in this slide, you'll see that there are different, different programs that we offer.
And and we offer PsyD in clinical psychology, and that program is done fully on campus.
And that's because it's APA accredited.
That's to be expected with that accreditation.
And then we have the master's in counseling.
That one is a hybrid program.
So some of it's online and then there are elements of it being on campus as well.
The master's in psychology, this program is done 100% online.
And so this is a great option for students that are looking for a little more flexibility.
Many of you might be working full time.
Maybe you have a busy home life.
And so doing something fully online does make it more accessible to you.
And along with that, it's also done asynchronously.
And in other words, this is a good way for you to, to participate participate in your program at whatever time works within your schedule.
There are with the exception of the virtual residency, and, again, we'll go into that.
With that one exception, everything is done at whatever time of day works for you.
And, Greg, I should jump in here a little bit.
Well, I know we're gonna talk about the human services specific courses, and there is one course.
What they'll need to be some coordinating and some non asynchronous time just because it's the relating skills.
But it's it's the one course, and it's not a lot of time.
Oh, good.
Okay.
Mhmm.
Very good.
And the next thing, I just wanna highlight for you our accreditation as well.
We're accredited regionally through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and this is one of the seven major accrediting bodies.
And then we also have what's called the NC SARE if you look at the bottom right side.
And that stands for the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement.
And what that means is regardless of where you're located, your degree, whether it's earned online or on campus, in this case online, it will be it'll have that same recognition of coming from a regional accredited regionally accredited institution regardless of where you're located.
And then, at the bottom left side, you you will see the American Psychological Association.
Now again, this is an accreditation that's connected only to the PsyD program, but I still like to highlight it because we do use the APA writing style.
So this is an advanced form of writing that will better prepare you for your, for your end goal.
And and, Greg, also, we are aligning our program with the recommended criteria that the APA has put forth for psychology master's degree.
So that's also important to know.
That's great.
Good.
So this is, this is something that we had highlighted a little bit.
But in this program, while the majority of it is done asynchronously, and there's, of course, that that one course that doctor Trepto had mentioned that is done in, done a little bit more synchronously, This is also a synchronous component.
This is the, virtual residency, which happens around the seventh week of the program, and it falls on a Friday and Saturday, if I understand that correctly.
Is that correct?
That's correct.
Good.
Could you expand on this a little bit more?
Oh, I'd love to.
So we have just, our program director, doctor Clousely, has been very innovative in in leading us to really serve students in the best possible ways.
And so we've added a virtual residency to the program starting last fall, and this has been very very well received by students.
As you can see in in the picture that's not a real picture of our students, but students are all on the page together.
And I just got finished reading everyone's reflections about this last residency, and everyone was so grateful for the time together.
So it's a time where Doctor.
Gross goes into some of the, philosophical and theological, pieces of the program and then provides a chance for students to discuss those among themselves, and that's been one of the things that students just really like.
And then we provide an opportunity for students in small groups to do a little practice with some of the helping helping skills, and that again is is really well received.
And many students are interested in in taking the class that allows them to get a little more practice with that.
And then we also, do some practice that relates to in in this program, everyone creates what is called the flourishing development plan.
And, basically, that is a way for you to think about what are some goals in your life across the three vocation levels that you'll learn about, the relationship of yourself to God and your personal growth, the relationship to close others, and then the way that you're serving in the world.
And so you learn how to set some goals in those areas.
So in the residency, we learn a particular skill to help you refine those goals because the idea is if you're gonna be in a program helping other people flourish, we want you flourishing as students as well.
So we provide a way to help you be able to do that.
So and I think that pretty much, covers the residency.
Doctor Closely goes into some more detail about the program, about how it's designed, and and what are the specific pieces about the program.
So that's also that's also really nice.
And as Greg said, it's in the first course.
So you're just getting your feet wet still, but it's far enough into the course that that you're feeling like, oh, I'm almost done with this class, and now I get to meet some people and and lean into that part.
And we, of course, as faculty really enjoy, this new residency that's been added, and it is online.
So the only thing you have to do is block out those two days, depending on where you're at.
You may need to shift some things, but you have enough time in advance to be able to do that.
And, you know, I'll just carry on with that as well.
I had a webinar with a graduate from this program last week, And one thing that she had highlighted was that there really is a sense of camaraderie in the program.
So many students, one of their concerns is that if they're doing an online program, especially one that's mostly done asynchronously, They're concerned that they won't have that same sort of support among their cohort that they might find in a classroom setting.
But her experience and the experience of many other graduates I've spoken to was that they really do get that sense.
They are still providing that support with each other.
Many of them create WhatsApp accounts, and so they communicate with each other.
They help guide each other through the program.
And, the faculty, when I speak with them, they've been very accommodating in speaking with each of these, with each of the students as they address their concerns.
And, Greg, after that, I just wanna jump in too.
I I'm just recalling.
So on our last residency, we had someone from Denmark, and we had someone from, Nigeria.
So that's just that sense of how and in a prior call, we had someone from The UK.
So students from all across the globe, it's really a a really global experience, to be in the program.
Yeah.
This is this is, from what I've seen, one of the most international, programs that we're offering just because of the accessibility around the world.
Yes.
Great.
Well, I'll continue on.
And I I just wanna hone in a little bit more into the focus of today, the human services counseling concentration.
And, really, the main purpose of this one is to provide students more, more training in ways that lean a little bit more into human services.
So whether it's promoting flourishing or helping in trying to prevent and remedying different kinds of problems, that's really what this concentration is designed for.
And doctor Trepto, if you could, talk a little bit about this, that would be great.
So so good.
I'm glad that you mentioned both, the, flourishing and the sort of dealing with various problems, we really keep our focus on on the flourishing flourishing being the antidote to the languishing that happens if people, may have different struggles in their lives.
And so we're really using a positive psychology lens, in our integration.
So you'll learn ways to be able to, help people reframe a struggle that they might be having into a way to problem solve it and, take it forward in a in a different way.
And we provide, ways to think about what that might look like.
We do stress this is not a license licensable program.
I think Greg will go into that a little more, but it would, graduating from this program is not a licensable degree, but there are many ways of helping.
It could be in your parish.
It might be as a as a case manager somewhere.
It may even be that you're in human resources and and you are helping to manage employees and so forth.
So we want you to be able to listen and support people in ways that help them to grow and flourish.
I I always like to use terms like, lowercase c counseling and capital c counseling.
And the differences that I'd like to sort of give more explanation on is that capital c counseling would be more along the lines of getting a counseling degree and then going to your state board and applying for licensure, becoming an LPC, which is a licensed professional counselor.
And this program is not designed for that.
This one would be, more so for those that want to go into human services.
Or maybe not even human services, but it does lean a little bit more in that direction.
But lowercase c counseling does give you a little bit more of an idea of counseling techniques and being able to assist, folks in those types of capacities.
So for those of you that are here and you're looking into becoming an LPC, that's fantastic.
This program might not be for you.
It might mean looking into a counseling degree instead.
But if licensure is not necessarily your main focus, but you want to go into a field that is related to this and not necessarily needing to go through the state board, then this could be a great option for you.
And and there are many, many opportunities that that don't require, going through that state board.
If you're at an agency and and you are supporting people, depending on on the type of state that you're in, that may be a place that you're providing support as a case manager, for example.
Yeah.
I'll even just highlight that a lot of folks, they think that being light for a program that doesn't prepare for licensure, they think automatically that you can't do anything with that degree, and that's, that's not the right way of looking at it.
There's a lot that you can do with it.
In this case, it just wouldn't prepare you for that form of licensure, but there's a lot of different career opportunities.
In fact, this is actually very versatile degree to have.
Absolutely.
So along with that, even though these won't be the focuses, I still wanna give you all a heads up that we do have different types of, different concentrations in here as well.
And so one concentration that we offer is the self design, and, this is pulling electives from different concentrations.
And then we have marriage and family studies, and this is a good focus for those that wanna hone in a little bit deeper into this type of population, whether it's within ministry or human services or, things related to that.
We also offer pre PhD, and this concentration is a good option for students that may be looking to further their education with a doctorate.
It's more so in the direction of research and academia.
It would be a little bit less in terms of clinical work, but I do know that there have been some students that, that do choose this because they they are eventually planning to go into a doctoral program, and this one does give the option of doing a thesis as well.
And then we also have leadership psychology, and this concentration is is good for those that might want to go into more of a leadership position, maybe within more I and O psychology environments, industrial and organization.
So that could be HR.
It could be consulting.
It could also work within education.
It ties into things.
This this also involves a little bit more, positive psychology.
And let me just go back to self design for just a second.
Those of you might be interested in, a few of these.
Maybe you're looking at marriage and family, but you're also looking at at human services counseling, and you're not sure which is the best fit.
Self design still gives you the ability to customize the program a little bit more by taking these electives from each of them.
And just to share with you, as a student, you'll be taking a total of 11 courses, and eight of the courses are the core courses.
These are the courses that you're seeing on the left hand side.
On the right, these would be the electives, and this specifically is tying in with human services counseling.
And I wanna go to the next slide to share a little bit more with you on these.
So, the first elective we have is group counseling and group work.
Then we have relationship and intervention skills, theory, and application.
And then finally, we have personality, individual differences, and intelligence.
And, doctor Trepto, would you mind sharing a little bit about these?
Sure.
Absolutely.
Actually, the second course is the course that you're most likely to take first.
That would be taken depending on when you actually, I guess depending on when you enter the program.
So that one's offered in in, the spring each year.
And so electives, are offered each spring.
And so in this course, you'll have a chance to practice different kinds of listening skills, different kinds of skills of being able to convey to someone that you heard them, different skills to help them make different choices, in their lives or maybe to have insights about what is happening for them.
Now we're not doing it at the level, quite as or as rigorous as would be in a counseling program, but we're doing at a level that's very, very competent in terms of being able to help someone, guide them to make decisions in their lives that will help them towards flourishing.
The group counseling is really much of the same types of work, the idea is that you're learning to do that in a larger group setting so there's more than one person.
It could be a couple, it could be.
If you're in human services where maybe it's even being able to run a meeting in a way that is very supportive to those who are working at the agency in ways that help them to grow and flourish that in turn help the persons that they are helping to grow and flourish.
And then, of course, personality, individual differences, and so forth, that's really important to know in in human services in that you're going to be encountering many different people with many different personality styles and ways of being.
And it's important to have some sense of what people might be bringing with them as they as they come to the to the work where you're trying to help them.
So that's and, of course, the other courses, the core courses.
All of those courses are also adding skills that are important for human services it's just that these are just leaned into a little bit more here So each of those eight courses on the on the early part also gave you some important human services skills.
Great.
So just to confirm for, for the students, these these electives, they don't fall at the end.
They do line up at different times, especially depending on when they start class.
Absolutely.
Actually, the the the electives some word was escaping there.
Be there for a minute.
The electives are basically spaced out through the program, and that was done intentionally, so that you get a chance to be excited about the particular concentration that you've chosen to lean into a bit.
So usually you take the first course, and then one or two, terms later, you would take other courses depending, of course, Greg will talk about the different timelines that you can do as well, but you won't be waiting until the end to get these courses.
You'll get to celebrate those along the way.
And, these are just a few tips that I like to include as well because many folks are curious about what sort of tools they'll be learning, what what sort of details they'll be going into within this program.
And, just to highlight these for you.
One is to evaluate social, political, and historical milestones and historical milestones and trends as they relate to human services roles in advocating or individual families and communities in need.
And we also have use culturally responsive strategies across diverse populations.
In other words, many of you might be working with different types of populations very maybe very different to you and, having the training to be able to communicate with them even if these are groups that might, I think, maybe, traditionally, maybe they make you uncomfortable.
You haven't been used to, to speaking with different populations, but you'll you'll learn these techniques to be able to communicate with them and and, provide healing if that's something that you're actually going into.
And then, of course, to provide comprehensive, well informed care.
Along with that, we also have, to demonstrate professional and interpersonal dynamics, informal and informal networks.
And there's also evaluate communication strategies and coalition building opportunities.
And lastly, there's develop knowledge and skills in inquiry, critical and creative thinking, and decision making.
These are skills that really do, go across many different directions, whether it's within ministry or in human services or in a more corporate environment.
So, again, tying into things like I and O psychology.
Some folks even go into, law enforcement.
So they're they're working with victim advocacy or those that do work within law enforcement.
These are these are tools that really do go across all these different directions.
And for many of you, you might be asking, what is it that you can do with this degree?
And and, doctor Trepto and I had mentioned earlier that, while this is a nonlicensure program, there's a lot that you can do with this professionally.
And, so I wanted to include this for you that that might be curious.
And so many of you could use this degree in going into abuse and and domestic violence prevention.
It could be working within foster care.
It could work within housing and shelf housing and shelter.
Working with the younger population, it could work within victim's assistant and and all sorts of different capacities.
There's also public safety and disaster relief.
There's senior care working with, with the geriatric population.
And then, of course, there's also substance abuse.
I even wanna pause there for a second because that's a a good example of lowercase c counseling.
I have seen in some states and every student should do their own research on this, but I have seen in some states that there are, certifications to become a, an abuse counselor.
And you don't technically depending on where you are, of course, but you don't technically have to be an LPC for that.
But having a background in psychology really will help you further that.
So, again, if that's something that you're interested in doing, it's always a good idea to do your research as far as your local area.
But, again, this is a very versatile degree to have.
And, positions that we're listing, there is a median salary that we've collected.
We got these from salary.com, but these are from very specific locations.
So, again, I would put it on you, the student, if you're, curious about what your salary would be depending on the position that you're looking into to research that, to look into places like Glassdoor or, Indeed or places like that where you'll be able to see what the salaries look like.
But this is just more of a broad range of what we've collected.
But within industrial and organizational positions, these are a few examples of that.
And so, again, it works very well in these directions.
So it's, whether you're currently working in the field or you're looking to go into that field, having a master's in psychology is very much value.
And I would just add to that.
Of course, a lot of it is is how you apply yourself.
So many of these positions are positions that if you join your personal passion with your degree, that makes a big difference in your hireability and your, you know, performance in these different fields.
So Absolutely.
And just continuing on with the versatility of the degree, and this is tying a little bit more into what we were going into earlier, but social and mental health services, many students do pursue this concentration because of their interest in going into this field.
So whether it's working as a case going into case management or serving as a grief and loss counselor.
Again, that's lowercase c counseling or addiction counseling, but then also maybe going into rehabilitation as as an advisor within that field.
Or, for some folks, they have a strong interest in executive coaching.
They've served as an as a consultant, and they're continuing on with that in teaching how to be more assertive and how to build on their, on their skills and and solidify it.
So this degree also caters very well to these directions.
And and, Greg, I would just add, you've mentioned kind of finding out what is happening in your local area.
So just thinking about sometimes some of these jobs they may have on the job training that's required and specific to the state, but having your master's degree definitely gets you in the door, and then they're just requiring that additional training of everyone.
Even someone who came in with a with a doctorate might be required to do that same level of training.
So it's because of their specific agency, or the state that they're wanting that additional piece.
Yeah.
And I'm I'm glad you mentioned that too, because it it is absolutely valued that you do have a master's in psychology.
But on top of that, even having that focus with human services counseling and being able to display that on your resume and sharing.
I have I have my master's in psychology with a focus in human services counseling.
That's also a good way of putting you ahead of your competitors.
Absolutely.
Employers really like to see that you're passionate about the work that you are proposing to do for them.
And just continuing on, as I had mentioned earlier, the degree is also very useful within an educational setting too.
So whether it's in teaching psychology, whether it's at a community college level or a high school level or taking on other positions within higher education or as a career counselor, The degree does cater very well to these.
And then also government and law enforcement positions.
And again, it's always a good idea to do your research, see what is required in your area.
But I have seen from many people and those that have continued on and graduated with their degree, they have gone into working in these types of fields.
So whether it's within vocational rehab or within being a drug and alcohol specialist or, working alongside with, law enforcement.
So as even working within criminal profiling or as a parole officer, Again, this is a very much valued degree in this area.
And then lastly, within ministry, in this program, we do have a lot of folks.
Many of them are laypeople.
They're they they're not consecrated priests or nuns or, many of them might not be pastors.
Some of them are, but then we also do have those folks.
We do have many consecrated religious people that have, gone into that religious vocation.
And whether that's you or not, but you are looking into using your degree within ministry, there are a lot of different directions on how this degree can be applied.
So whether it's at the parish level, whether it's working within the diocesan office of marriage and families or the one in victim's assistance as well, or if you're going into faith formation or catechesis, this is a very common degree for those.
In fact, I'll even highlight that we do get a lot of folks that work in ministry because, having a master's in psychology really does help them serve others.
Just having the ability to recognize mental health difficulties so that they can better work with people in faith formation or better counsel them through their difficulties is, very useful for them.
And, Greg, I would just jump in here to say that one of the benefits of being in our program is that you are going to have classmates who are perhaps doing one of these ministries or priests who are very, very appreciative of the human the people skills, the human human, services skills.
So you really get a variety of different people who are doing different things, and pretty much everyone is passionate about what it is they are going to be able to do for the Lord as they are preparing for for a career.
So Yeah.
Absolutely.
So the next thing I want to go over with everyone is the time frame of the program.
And you're also seeing costs there too, and we'll go into that.
And I do wanna preface that we do have scholarships available as well.
So I just wanted to highlight that.
But the the starting point is really figuring out which track is best for you, how long the program should take you based on your schedule.
So we do offer two official ones.
One is completing it in twenty six months, and this means that you're taking one course per term.
And then the other one is doing a sixteen month track.
And this means, not every term, but most terms, it would be taking two courses per term.
Consider that one as more of an accelerated option because they're both considered to be full time.
And as you see in here, there are different estimated amounts of hours that you'd be putting in per week.
Now this is not set in stone.
This is just more of an estimate.
I've I've spoken with students where one term might mean that they're putting in, ten to twelve to fifteen hours per week if they're doing one course.
And then for another term, it might be information that, material that they're more familiar with.
And so they've been able to put in a little bit less.
And so it really can vary, but I still like to highlight if you're doing twenty six months to assume it would be between twelve to fifteen to eighteen hours per week.
And then with the sixteen month track, if on average you're doing two courses per term, expect it to be a little bit closer to twenty to twenty five, maybe even thirty hours per week.
So it's always a good idea to look at your schedule and consider what sort of time you would be able to commit toward the program.
That's absolutely really important, Greg, too, is knowing that sort of schedule of how you would be able to plan it out.
Students who, are able to sort of set aside certain days and times to do their work, really find it to be, you know, pretty pretty straightforward to get their work done and complete the program.
Yeah.
And, you know, going with that because we're looking at the different tracks, you're also seeing two different costs.
Now I just wanna highlight that this is the total cost that we're seeing.
The textbooks are actually included, but you are seeing two different ones, and I'll explain why.
For the twenty six month track, and, again, just to preface, this is before applying any sort of scholarships or m o MOUs.
We'll talk about ways of reducing the cost.
But for the twenty six month track, we're looking at 26,818.
For the sixteen month track, it's a little bit less.
And the reason why is because every term that you're taking two courses, each, for that second course, it ends up being 25% less.
So, again, it's a it's a good idea to first make sure that you're entering into the right one.
We wouldn't want you to overburden yourself if you already have a very busy schedule.
And, again, there are ways of reducing the tuition.
But if you're someone that does have that flexibility in your day, then, that's just another benefit of doing the sixteen month track as well.
And when it comes to funding, there are different ways of doing it as well.
Many students will utilize student loans, so they'll apply through FAFSA and use federal aid.
Whenever federal aid is applied through a graduate level, it is in the form of loans, but that's a very common and, useful way of of funding your education.
And then we also have, different alternative ones, and one is doing a payment plan.
Some of you might prefer not to use student loans, and that's perfectly fine.
If you wanted to fund your education, as you go, then you would just be paying installments through your terms.
And then, of course, I had mentioned our scholarships, and I wanna go into that as well.
We have 13 different scholarships available.
This is just highlighting six of them, and they range between the dollar amount and the percentage.
And it's always a good idea to see which ones you you qualify for, but I always like to tell students that there's a scholarship there's at least one scholarship out there for you.
So if you were inclined to to reduce your cost, to communicate with our financial aid department, communicate with me as your admissions counselor, and we'll be able to pinpoint the right one for you and bring that tuition down.
And another way of doing it is through our partnerships.
Now these aren't all of our partnerships.
These are just the ones that we have listed in front of us.
But an MOU, this is a memorandum of understanding.
In other words, this is a partnership with the university.
Using an MOU, we can reduce your tuition.
It depends on what that agreement was.
But, if this is something that if any of these look familiar to you because you might be in a certain diocese, maybe you're connected with, Focused Mission, or you belong to a parish that that is, connected with us, then let me know, and we can talk about how we can bring that cost down.
And if not, there's still an option to create a partnership.
There's no monetary impact.
It's very simple on how we can do that.
And, again, we can talk about that hopefully one on one.
And this brings us to the end.
So, I just wanna first mention my contact information here.
Feel free to screen grab it or write it down.
Again, feel free to reach out to me whether you wanna call or text or email me.
I would love to set up an appointment with you.
I know that many of you have questions, and the main thing to do is confirm that this program is right for you if you were interested.
And, just to highlight very quickly too, we do have an upcoming start date from May 18.
And if you wanted to apply, we also have a code to waive the fee, and that's in that blue box.
So if you put in the code CCMMP1999, we will waive the $55 application fee for you.
And, again, that's coming up for May 18.
So with that said, I would love to open up the floor to all of you.
I know that there are some questions.
And, doctor Trepto, are you ready for that?
I I'm trying to get ready here.
Yeah.
Okay.
Very good.
Let's see.
So I have one question.
Yeah.
Is that the one about Zoom?
Yes.
Okay.
Do you wanna take that one, or do you want me to do it?
So let me sure.
It says, is Zoom the program used for all the classes, or is there another program used for it?
So I will first highlight that because most of this is done asynchronously, the majority of it, you wouldn't be using Zoom for most of your classes, pretty much all of them.
It would mostly most of your classes will actually be done through discussion boards.
We use Canvas.
That's the, that's the platform.
But, but Zoom is the platform that is used for the virtual residency, if I understand correctly.
Yes.
Absolutely.
And then I also will jump into us.
We actually have made some modifications because students wanted a little bit more synchronous feeling.
So in each course, we actually do have built in some optional q and a by Zoom.
So that's faculty just kind of decide when those would be offered, and then most faculty offer, excuse me, office hours, through Zoom as well.
So there are always options that you can connect with your faculty over Zoom if you have a question, if you just want to get to know them, and so forth.
So it is the platform, that's available.
Excellent.
Good.
Another thing I wanted to highlight back when you talked about the terms just so everybody is clear.
So the terms at Divine Mercy are eight week terms.
So they're there actually are two terms in each semester.
So that's just one thing that's good to know when you when you start, and they're very, very organized.
There's really a nice flow.
Once you've had a a course or two, you get the flow of how the how the courses go, and it goes pretty smoothly.
Yeah.
Thank you for for adding that too.
And, yeah, what what doctor Trepto was mentioning how each very commonly, it's it's common that the words term and semester are used interchangeably.
But in this program, we are semester based.
But as you mentioned, within a semester, you have two terms.
I suppose the summer semester might be the outlier since that one is only made up of of one term, if I understand correctly.
Yeah.
You get you get four weeks off at the end of the term in the summer.
That's the bonus.
Yep.
So you'll get that break, and you'll also get, I believe December is another break for students here at Divine Mercy.
Yes.
I think it's a couple weeks.
Not quite as long as the summer, but it's it's a nice break.
Yeah.
Great.
And there's also a week between each term as well.
So there are some breaks built in so you can catch your breath.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
And just to prepare for the next subject.
Mhmm.
Very good.
You know, doctor Trepto, I do get a question frequently, and, it's about the support that students receive from their faculty.
And, if I understand faculty, they do meet with the students.
I can't remember if it was twice per term, but it's or if it was once per term, but it it's a good means for them to gain that support.
Can you share a little bit about that?
Sure.
So one of the supports that we have in the program is that each student is assigned a faculty advisor, and so that advisor will meet with you usually in the first half, certainly in the first course, and usually in that early part of that course.
And the idea is that you have one faculty who knows who you are, who can just support you, if you are having anything that happens in your life, or if you're just maybe not, quite understanding, the course material, but you're not quite sure how to approach the professor, for example.
And then, of course, you can reach out to that faculty person as often as you would as you would like.
And that person also one of the things that we haven't talked about, there is a capstone in this program, and that's one of the key pieces that is is really nice for students because it's a a self designed project with some some guidelines, of course, but a self designed project that you do that's really your passion of interest.
And so your faculty advisor is someone who can talk to you about those ideas.
Most often, people have an idea.
When they start, it may not come to their mind until someone asks them.
So so if you had to do a project, what would it be?
And so that tends to be one of the things that really gives students a sense of passion and a sense of identity as they go through the program.
Basically, it's a project that you could carry out in the real world.
You don't carry that unless you're in the pre PhD program, then those students do get an opportunity, but no one else is required to do it.
And you design it in such a way that it could be a contribution to, helping in the larger world.
And you just basically, one guideline, you apply the Catholic Christian meta model of the person in your project.
But there are so many ways that you can that you can do that.
Yeah.
I'm I'm glad that you brought that one up as well, and I've spoken with, I've spoken with graduates here who have used their capstone as a means to promote themselves when applying for different positions.
It's shown that that they have mastery over certain subjects.
And for a lot of people, they loved the capstone because it was an opportunity for them to dive so deeply into their passion, into what it was, why they even came into the program.
For a lot of people that work in ministry, they wanted to talk about faith formation and maybe a way to avoid burnout in working within ministry or working with those that have been, affected by addiction or it's really going to be up to you.
And so it's just a great way for the program to be further tailored to your to your passions and to your goals.
Yes.
Absolutely.
And so those papers for that capstone are inserted into each of your core classes.
So you'll get feedback from lots of different faculty on your ideas, and you get opportunity to revise and and take in that faculty's, feedback and ideas as you go through.
So in the end, when you get to the end, your your project is is really pretty well developed, which is a pretty exciting place to be as you exit the program.
Oh, and, at the graduation, when you walk and when your family's there cheering you on, in the program where it has your name listed, it also highlights the title of your, of your capstone.
So I'm looking at the time, and, again, we've reached our end here.
But just to highlight again, we do have an upcoming start date for May 18.
And, one last thing, we're actually still offering an early application scholarship, and so that's for 1,500.
So for those of you that really are considering applying, I would love to connect with you, and we can talk about how to apply and see if this program is right for you and how we can also, get you to to have that that bonus scholarship tacked on top of any other tuition reductions that we can find for you.
So with that said, doctor Treptel, thank you so much for hosting with me.
It was really a blessing just having you share Oh.
Details of the program from faculty.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Alright.
Well, thank you all for being here with us, and, I wish you all the best.
God bless.