I have always appreciated the great impact of school psychologists, and I\u2019m proud of each of our FHSU grads who strive to give back to their communities through this essential service. FHSU\u2019s 2025 Lighthouse award winner, Allyson Baloga, exemplifies the spirit of supporting children, parents, and their school systems as she looks forward to launching her career as a school psychologist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allyson was born in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and grew up in Belle Plaine, Kansas, south of Wichita, and then later in Wichita, Kansas. She earned her bachelor\u2019s degree in criminal justice from Wichita State University. \u201cI had a class with a professor who talked about the school-to-prison pipeline, and that was probably the best thing I learned,\u201d Allyson said. \u201cI decided that for me, personally, the place I could have the most impact wasn\u2019t going to be in the criminal justice system. I needed to work on the education side if I was going to change this dynamic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Allyson\u2019s transition from a career in the criminal justice field to education would have to wait several years. She met and married her husband, Ben, an Air Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician stationed at McConnell Air Force Base. She also went to work as a mental health case manager, helping children with severe emotional disturbances and supporting teachers, parents, doctors, and community providers to ensure they got the care they needed. She also met a school psychologist while working as a case manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe was so amazing and generous with her time and expertise. She let me ask her questions and tag along like a puppy,\u201d Allyson said. She went home the first day after meeting the school psychologist and told her husband that this was the work she was fated to pursue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
About the time Allyson decided to go back to school and pursue a master\u2019s degree, Ben let her know he had just received orders to his next duty station in Alaska. Marriage and family were Allyson\u2019s first priorities. With their two young sons in tow, the Balogas headed to Elmendorf, Alaska. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe spent eight years in Alaska, and once my youngest started kindergarten, I decided it was time for me to dive back into my education and career,\u201d Allyson said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She began looking for an online master\u2019s program in school psychology and found Fort Hays State University. She reached out to some practicing school psychologists through Facebook and liked what they had to say about the program. She then contacted Assistant Professor Angie Howard in the FHSU Department of Psychology, little knowing that Angie would go on to play a pivotal role as a mentor for Allyson during her graduate degree experience. The more she got to know the online program and the faculty she spoke with, the more she liked the idea of restarting her educational journey at FHSU. \u201cIt turned out it was fate,\u201d Allyson said. \u201cI just knew this was the program for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While unmatched affordability played a big role in Allyson\u2019s decision to pursue her master\u2019s degree in school psychology at FHSU, the supportive professional culture she found at the university made all the difference. \u201cI still can\u2019t believe the education that you get at FHSU. It\u2019s the people at FHSU who make the difference. This whole university community cares about you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eight years after she decided to pivot from criminal justice to school psychology, Allyson is poised to start doing the work she feels she was destined to do. \u201cI think the preventive care that I\u2019ve been trained to deliver as a school psychologist, the nurturing element, is what will make that difference for the children I will serve, and for me,\u201d Allyson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She is drawn to working through what amounts to a great big puzzle when finding solutions for kids in need. \u201cI enjoy the challenge of figuring out their needs and how teachers, parents, other specialists, and compassionate people in the community can best support our kiddos. I love the fact that it\u2019s never the same day twice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This academic year, she completed a 600-hour practicum and will begin a 1,200-hour internship in Minot\u00a0Public Schools next fall.\u00a0Allyson explained\u00a0why\u00a0in-depth field experiences\u00a0are essential elements in the FHSU school psychology graduate program:\u00a0\u201cSchool psychologists are relied upon to know\u00a0laws and regulations.\u00a0We also depend upon\u00a0them\u00a0for our expertise in\u00a0child development\u00a0theory and practice,\u00a0assessments, and knowing\u00a0how children learn and develop,\u00a0and\u00a0the impact of childhood illnesses and\u00a0developmental\u00a0challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a graduate student, she co-authored a professional article featured in Communique\u2019<\/em>, the journal of the National Association of School Psychologists. She has testified before the Kansas House of Representatives\u2019 Committee on Health and Human Services on behalf of legislation that would expand access to school psychology services by allowing professionals in the field the ability to practice across state borders. She also served as a leader with the National Association of School Psychologists and as a FHSU Online Student Government Association member. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Allyson Baloga graduated last week with her education specialist degree in school psychology. In a fitting sendoff, she\u00a0was\u00a0also named\u00a0the\u00a0recipient of this\u00a0year\u2019s\u00a0Lighthouse Award as the outstanding graduate student in this\u00a0spring\u2019s\u00a0graduating class.\u00a0Never one to seek or revel in accolades, Allyson said,\u00a0\u201cI\u00a0will\u00a0always come back to the fact that it is the people at FHSU\u00a0who put me in a position for an award like this.” People like\u00a0Professor\u00a0Howard and Director\u00a0Amy Drinnon\u00a0were always there\u00a0to support and challenge\u00a0this online student from far-off North Dakota.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tisa Mason is president of Fort Hays State University.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have always appreciated the great impact of school psychologists, and I\u2019m proud of each of our FHSU grads who strive to give back to their communities… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37698,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12323,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-life","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Mason-Tisa-040A6662.jpg?fit=750%2C1050&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=86877"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86886,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86877\/revisions\/86886"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=86877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=86877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=86877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}