By: Massiel Mileo Caballero
Hi everyone! My name is Massiel Mileo, but everybody calls me May. I’m a 2026 Global Scholar at Florida State University. I’m majoring in psychology with a minor in child development. A few things about me: I was born in Venezuela but moved to Orlando when I was nine, I love to read and draw, and after I graduate I want to get a PhD in clinical psychology.
To me, being a Global Scholar means stepping out of your comfort zone and finding an opportunity to improve your professional and personal development while also helping a community you care about. I will be involved with families and children this summer, which makes sense for my career plans since I want to be a child psychologist. I will help my community through my service and conduct research by interviewing families about their experiences.
The plans for summer are still not solidified, but I have two opportunities available right now:
- I’ll serve at a summer camp for the Opportunity, Community, Ability program. This is a nonprofit in Orlando that provides care for children and adults with special needs. Since I’m studying psychology and intend to work with younger populations after graduate school, this opportunity would be great for career development. Additionally, it would allow me to serve my community and assist families. I want my summer experience to mean something to me, and this is a great start. I’m apprehensive about the novelty factor. I’ve worked with children before but never with children with intellectual disabilities, so I’m scared that I won’t do as good of a job, or I won’t be able to connect with them as well. However, I’ll have people who’ll train me and help as I go.
- Another opportunity would be to volunteer for Salvation Army at the Women and Children’s Shelter in Orlando. This would also allow me to help families and serve my community. I’m excited about this opportunity but a bit nervous because I’ve never worked at a shelter, so I have no idea what the environment is like.
Regardless of which opportunity I end up choosing, I will be investigating emotional regulation in families.
If I get the first opportunity, I will interview families and professionals at the facility, asking about their experiences with helping their children with emotional awareness and regulation. I will ask some of the parents whether they believe that their children’s intellectual disability significantly impacts their emotional regulation ability. I will also ask what techniques they use in their day-to-day lives to help with their child’s and their own emotional regulation.
If I get the second opportunity, I will also interview families about the emotional regulation of their kids, but without asking if they believe disabilities have any effect, as there will probably be less participants with disabilities in the shelter.
I won’t really be stepping into another culture for this project, as both of these opportunities take place in Orlando, where I’ve lived for most of my life. Nevertheless, for whichever role I take this summer, I will receive training for interacting with vulnerable populations. So, I expect to learn a lot from that training and from interacting with the children and their families in these facilities.
All in all, I’m very excited about this summer, and shall update about my experience.
-May Mileo
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