KONSTANTIN MINAEV

Future of Psychology,
Youth Advocate

Konstantin Minaev chooses to pursue the health-related field focused on psychology for a lot of reasons, but three of them truly stand out: all of his passions, including the personal qualities they help develop, relate to some field of psychology, he has a true desire to continue developing and expanding his Psychology studies, and he is dreaming of impacting the world positively, from his future studies. 

Growing up, Konstantin gained experience from leading the school-based Medical Occupations Club, leading the fundraising committees at the NHS, volunteering at the hospitals, caring for his grandmother, as she is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, tutoring students with limited educational possibilities, and presenting lectures to his classmates about serious medical conditions, as part of his leadership role of the Student Council. Konstantin enjoyed his engagement in Pre-Collegiate courses, on the topics of Neuroscience, to obtain and apply the most recent knowledge, from researching interesting topics in the genetics behind neurological disorders, and participating in health-based organizations with the goal to raise awareness among the population. Tutoring students has opened his eyes to the importance of support and the presence of positive psychology, such as motivation and encouragement, in all aspects of education. Additionally, multiple school activities helped him to increase communication and leadership skills to apply in the future. He also realized that his help for his grandmother, suffering from Alzheimer's disease, taught him to persevere and explore certain fields of cognitive science to help others prevent these diseases, while also he understood his deep interest in this field. Similarly, he tends to focus on exploring new topics of new psychological research, in Psyc Explorer and Psyc Guide, read about the increasing knowledge of the brain gut-connection in his favorite book, The Mind-Gut Connection: How the Hidden Conversation Within Our Bodies Impacts Our Mood, Our Choices, and Our Overall Health, by Dr. Emeran Mayer, likes to watch anime, with one of his best friends, about a character facing psychological obstacles, and learn from John Wooden’s sports philosophies of patience and GRIT by reading one of his favorite books, Wooden. 

In addition to his passions, he has a large desire to continue pursuing the study of Psychology throughout his life. Now, he is engaged in a variety of activities that range from minor tasks to large, impactful responsibilities, such as caring for his ailing grandmother. Helplessness, hopelessness, inferiority, and fear (of the end) are just four adjectives to describe the condition Alzheimer’s imposes on its sufferers. He is doing all he can, such as performing on the piano, engaging in a couple of rounds of scribble, reading her favorite books from medicine, practicing a variety of physical exercises, including dancing, walking, cycling, watching medical movies, and playing flashcards to ensure the decreased rate of cognitive decline. After reading and learning about the large connection between memory and a variety of lifestyle forms, from Dr. Gary Small’s literature works, he started to engage in discussions with his grandmother about her past and medical career to improve the social engagement aspect of a healthy brain. In general, he thinks that this is a great opportunity for him to learn more about specific symptoms in practice and apply measures to prevent exacerbation, such as amnesia, anterograde amnesia, and fluid intelligence vs. crystallized intelligence, from the perspective of a loved one. Some of this synchronizes with his AP Psychology course, especially when his teacher gives their students specific projects and assignments to detail an observational study of recently learned themes.

Outside of psychology, he also enjoys playing tennis, piano, and traveling around the world. It’s interesting because he has been fascinated by these activities since seven, but didn’t understand the importance of certain psychological phenomena until he faced a concept-apply scenario on his AP Exam studying. That, ultimately, boosted his love of Psychology to an extreme level, mainly due to the applicableness and availability of certain topics to specific real-life scenarios, such as assessing the strength of his tennis partner before the match. It makes him extremely happy when he can evaluate an ongoing situation, from a psychological standpoint, and come up with a solution within minutes. For example, at his recent piano concert, the large audience and difficulty of his piece stimulated high-level anxiety, causing his hands to sweat. However, having learned about techniques to cope with anxiety and after reading Dr. George M. Slavich’s multiple articles about healthy ways of coping with stress, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and re-evaluated the current situation through imagination techniques that, as a result, brought positive outcomes. 

Looking ahead, it is no surprise in which area he would like to realize his impact. One of his favorite Psychologist-publicists to read is Dr. Ryan M. Niemiec. Konstantin loves reading Dr. Niemiec, due to his emphasis on the importance of character strengths, in attempts to expand the boundary of positive psychology’s influence, primarily due to its powerfully beneficial effect on all of humanity. Konstantin is extremely grateful for all of the research breakthroughs in positive psychology and its applicableness, as the school’s acceptable, empathetic, and kind approach, has truly helped him in his personal and social development. Additionally, after Konstantin graduates and starts working in the health-oriented field, he will be able to not only gain insights into humans behaviors, but, also, study and promote human flourishing by publishing books, writing supportive articles, promoting awareness through social media, and continue supporting a non-profit organization, such as alz.org (Fundraising Standards | Alzheimer's Association). He, in addition to this, obtained a powerful belief, from the social psychology perspective, that even small acts of kindness today, such as donating USD 10 regularly to the alz.org fosters a future far better than the present. Therefore, even a post on Instagram that teaches people the basics of positive psychology, such as exposing negative emotions, while creating and accepting positivity will cultivate a healthier and benevolent world. To paraphrase Margaret Thatcher correctly, one should be careful of their thoughts, as that eventually creates their destiny. This beautifully demonstrates the power of Psychology, as the understanding of ourselves leads us to create our own destiny that we desire and aim for.