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About Bonnie Kester

Bonnie Kester grew up in a small town on the south shore of Long Island, New York. She is going into her senior year of college at SUNY Purchase, where she is double-majoring in Psychology and Gender Studies. After graduating in 2018, she hopes to go into a counseling psychotherapy graduate program. Bonnie loves to travel; she has travelled to many countries, most of them in Europe and the Caribbean, and hopes to travel more in the future. Her interests include riding her bike, drawing, painting, and relaxing at the beach. Through the Get Smart Internship, she hopes to utilize her strong sense of empathy to connect with other empowered women and reach out to those who are struggling with the tasks of young adulthood and hopefully make a difference in any way she can. Through this internship, she hopes to be able to hone these skills in her future career as a counseling psychotherapist.

Preparing for Grad School?

Raising your GPA, bulking up your resumé and transcript, getting an internship (or multiple internships), having relevant job experience, figuring out what you want to do with your career, picking out a specific career track/program/practice, researching what tests you have to take to qualify for a program, seeing where you might want to go to [...]

Shine Your Brightest Light

Recognizing that you have talents and abilities is immensely important to surpass your perceived potential. Focusing on your gifts, and realizing that you can do anything you put your mind to, has incredible outcomes and fuels great achievements. So many people are extremely critical of themselves, and to such an extent that oftentimes they may [...]

Identifying Healthy vs. Unhealthy Relationships

There are many generally accepted behaviors and exchanges between people in a committed relationship that are oftentimes, in reality, very problematic and unacceptable. Overprotecting, vigilant, dominant, overbearing, and controlling personality traits or behaviors are often interpreted as positive, such as the abuser doing what they do "out of care/love" for their partner. Of course, there are [...]

On Loving Yourself

In today’s media, people are constantly being barraged by various messages and images pertaining to the ‘perfect body,’ ‘summer body,’ ‘confidence weight,’ ‘the beautiful body type’ and countless other descriptions of the ‘ideal’ hairstyle, makeup, weight, height, skin color, eye color, face shape, curve proportion, clothing style and other methods of expression. Messages of ‘not good [...]

A Guide to Speaking Your Mind

Having the confidence to speak regularly in class can be difficult for many people. For those who are more extraverted, this may be a relatively simple task that involves close to no effort. For those who may be more introverted, it can be very nerve-wracking, and they may end up shying away from asking questions. [...]

College Safety: Sexual Assault Awareness

Going away to college can be one of the most enriching and positive experiences in one’s life; you are exposed to a new environment, new friends, and new experiences. These 4+ years can contribute so much to one’s growth, and have a positive impact on one’s personal development, but unfortunately, it can also come with [...]