I interviewed Dr. Michael LaRocca, who is a licensed Clinical Psychologist, Assistant Professor at Virginia Military Institute, and a U.S. Army veteran. Michael shares his path to studying psychology through his time in the US Army. He talks about the power of leadership and resilience in the military and how that led him to teaching psychology and leadership courses. He states "My time in the U.S. Army led me to psychology when seeing the power of support, resilience, and the mind. I wanted to help people with understanding the power of the mind." Michael deeply cares about self-directed learning and making curriculum meaningful to his students. He talks about the organic nature of discussions in his class that emerge from students connecting lessons to ...