Andrea Montalvo was one of nine Peruvian students who crowded into a small hospital room in January to hear Chicago School student Melissa Peterson describe the work she does with pregnant and postpartum immigrant women battling depression. By the next day, she had switched gears and was sitting in another room at another hospital, learning how psychology is used to treat trauma in the emergency room.

Students visiting from Universidad Peruana de la Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC) in Lima, Peru

It was a whirlwind tour: one week of witnessing firsthand the myriad of ways in which psychology is applied in settings that range from corporate meeting room to cancer ward. For the students visiting from Universidad Peruana de la Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC) in Lima, Peru—where they all study psychology—it was an opportunity to experience what life as a graduate student, and later as a professional psychologist, would be like.

“I’m really impressed with all that we’re doing,” Andrea said. “Not only are we visiting another country, we get to see what we consider a great school. We were talking today about maybe doing our internships here or transferring here.”

In addition to seeing the role that psychologists play in health care settings, students visited Garfield Park Preparatory Academy (GPPA), where they watched applied behavior analysis being used in elementary classrooms to dramatically boost the academic performance in children from severely disadvantaged backgrounds. GPPA, a contract school operated by TCSPP in partnership with the Chicago Public School system, is the one of the few schools in the country—and the only one in Illinois—to be based entirely on ABA principles. It stands as an innovative example of how psychology can be used to close the achievement gap between marginalized populations and their more affluent peers.

“What amazed me is that the range of fields psychologists can work in here is so vast compared to Peru,” said Andrea Galup, another of the Peruvian delegation. “In a poor country like ours, psychologists just take care of the basics.”

The week was not all work and no play though. One evening was devoted to a game night, in which visitors and Chicago School students squared off over a variety of board games.
The Peruvians’ visit is part of a larger goal to internationalize The Chicago School, said Chicago Campus President Carroll Cradock, who welcomed the delegation. In turn, TCSPP students traveled to Peru in March, and administrators from the two institutions are discussing the possibility of joint educational programming.

“We’re preparing our students for a global world—in education, applied psychology, and business,” Dr. Cradock said. “We want our students well prepared to be successful; we want to give them the background to work with immigrant populations as well as those abroad.”