Westcott named NSU Fall 2018 Outstanding Graduate Student

(Tahlequah, Oklahoma) - Jordan Westcott, of Edmond, Oklahoma, has been recognized as Northeastern State Universitys Fall 2018 Outstanding Graduate Student.

Westcott is a December 2018 graduate candidate with a Master of Science in Counseling. She graduated with a bachelors degree in psychology in May 2016.

Each semester, outstanding graduate students are nominated by their program faculty. Nominations are reviewed by a selection committee of graduate faculty.

As a graduate student, Westcott served as chair for the Chi Sigma Iota Community Engagement Committee. She served on the Counseling Graduate Student Association and helped found a book club focused on diverse experiences. She was also a Counselor in Residence in Tahlequah.

To be presented with this award is such an honor, as clich as it might sound, Westcott said. My experience in my Master's program has allowed me to grow and change in ways that I never imagined. I am so grateful to have been selected by my faculty as a student who stands out academically and interpersonally. The relationships I formed at NSU have been so important to me, and to be celebrated by the faculty that helped me grow is such a humbling experience.

Westcott successfully defended her thesis, The Impact of Identity Centrality, Community Connectedness, and Resiliency on Minority Stress in LGBQ+ Individuals in November.

She plans to begin Virginia Tech Universitys counselor education and supervision doctorate program in August 2019. She hopes to become a faculty member in a masters counseling program, helping counselors learn cultural humility and obtain cultural competency in their clinical work. She also hopes to research minority stress in people with intersecting identities.