Graduate student receives international honor

Krystal Turner ’14,’19 M.A. recently was named Outstanding Entry-Level Student by the Chi Sigma Iota (CSI) Counseling Academic and Professional Honor Society International. The society promotes scholarship, research, professionalism, leadership, advocacy and excellence in counseling.

Turner was selected for this honor based on “scholarship, extracurricular involvement, service to the chapter and evidence of excellence and commitment to the profession,” according to Rachel Saunders ’14 M.A., past president of UNC Charlotte’s Mu Tau Beta chapter of CSI and doctoral candidate for counselor education and supervision. Among Turner’s accomplishments were the creation of the Minorities in Counseling student group that offered professional development workshops and community engagement on campus. She also served as senator for Mu Tau Beta and has presented her research on play therapy for children at several national conferences including the fourth annual Black Mental Health Symposium last year.

Last year’s Outstanding Master’s Student for Mu Tau Beta, Turner received the Graduate Dean’s Meritorious Student Award in 2018.

Turner completed her master’s degree in Counseling in 2019, after obtaining bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Africana Studies.

She plans to begin doctoral studies this fall at the University of North Texas at Denton, where she will “focus on strengthening my clinical counseling skills to better serve diverse populations, particularly using play therapy skills to work with minority children with a background of trauma.

“My principles and values on counseling very closely align with UNC Charlotte’s Counseling program,” she said. “I believe my study at UNT will be an opportunity to explore my work from a different perspective.”