Alumni Spotlight - Colby Droullard

Colby Droullard graduated from Everett High School in 2007, never really taking school seriously until he returned to Everett Community College in the fall of 2010. “I started at the bottom, placing into English 98 and Math 80 and had a long way to catch up, but with encouragement from an advisor and several instructors I made up ground pretty quickly.” Colby took the advice to enroll in Honors Psychology and proceeded to take challenging courses throughout his time at EvCC. After his first two quarters at full time status he decided to set his sights on the University of Washington to major in psychology. He carefully planned out the pre-requisites needed for UW and the psychology program, completing foreign language, calculus, biology, anthropology, and Psyc 209 (research methods in social sciences) along with two more honors courses and graduated from EvCC in 2013 with a 3.93 GPA. He was awarded Outstanding Graduate from the Social Sciences Department.

“I felt really prepared starting out (at University of Washington) in understanding research and in writing papers. I had good advice from my professors at Everett, Dr. Diane Brown in psychology, and anthropology instructor Cynthia Clarke, to get to know my professors, go to office hours, and get involved in a research lab. I even had the opportunity to study abroad in Chile in my program. I definitely felt what I learned at EvCC put me at a huge advantage over students coming right out of high school.”

Colby graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Washington in December, 2015. During his studies at UW, Colby had the opportunity to work in Dr. Marsha Linehan’s research lab, best known for her groundbreaking work in Dialectical Behavior Therapy for individuals with borderline personality disorder. He additionally worked with teens and their parents in the lab doing assessments which looked for therapeutic attendance, self-harming incidents, suicidal risk, and recent hospitalizations. His passion for working with at-risk youth led him to securing a full-time position after graduation, mentoring boys ages 12-17 in a group home and juvenile re-entry program, many of whom are in the foster system.  His position requires a bachelor’s degree in psychology or related field and he is truly applying his knowledge of psychology as he works with and mentors the teens. 

"I get to work with people at all levels in the system, including the kids themselves, which is the most rewarding part of the job”, Colby says.  Eventually, Colby sees himself going to graduate school, either in social work or clinical psychology so that he can become a licensed practitioner. He also loves the idea of teaching psychology or studying to become a suicide intervention specialist for the police force.

“My best advice for students beginning the process at EvCC is to take it one quarter at a time – one class at a time – really one assignment at a time. Be sure everything you do has a learning experience. It's easy to get overwhelmed but when you take each and every moment with the idea that something can be learned and applied, you'll find that school becomes easier. Be creative in your studying and refuse to let discouragement get the best of you." 

Take it here! Bachelor’s degrees in psychology vary across the state in what is required for pre-requisites to apply to the programs of different schools. Many of those pre-requisites can be taken right here at EvCC. See what classes you can take here that fulfill the requirements of major schools across the state.