By Jess Daninhirsch

The University of Maryland chose doctoral student in counseling psychology M Pease for the Graduate Summer Research Fellowship at the end of March. But that’s the least interesting thing to happen to them.

While being a full-time student, Pease works for the Maryland Commission on LGBTQIA+ Affairs, trains to become a therapist by seeing real clients, researches the state of mental health among marginalized groups, writes op-eds for The Baltimore Sun, and has a list of academic credits about a mile long.

Pease, a native Marylander, has been attending the University of Maryland for six years now. They spent their undergraduate years studying psychology, and for the past two years, they have been working towards their Ph.D. in counseling psychology. They’ve accomplished so much in those six years.

Psychology seemed to be a natural path for Pease. Their mom, who immigrated from the Philippines at a young age, is a social worker, so they were exposed to the idea of caring for people as a profession from an early age. 

As they got older and attended a magnet high school in Montgomery County, they said they realized that their learning environment was intense and frankly toxic. Pease said that they experienced a lot of stress and mental health issues, and they wanted to figure out ways to fix this situation. Thus, their interest in pursuing psychology was solidified.

“I want to be able to address human suffering in meaningful ways for people so that others can experience relief from the types of things that I was experiencing,” Pease said in an interview.

Many members of Pease’s extended family also live in Maryland, and according to Pease, their family has been very supportive of their work. They also try to draw on the experiences of family members who came before them and who helped get them to where they are.

“I’m going to honor that by continuing to try to make a better world for the people that come after us,” Pease said.

The University of Maryland was ranked number one on BestColleges’ annual list of LGBTQ+ friendly campuses in August 2023. As a multiracial (half-Filipino, half-white), trans-nonbinary genderqueer student at the University of Maryland, Pease has found pockets of campus life that offer overwhelming support. 

“I really love being a queer person, in part because of the opportunities that existing in these identities provides to seeing the world through that more expansive lens and giving a voice toward imagining a future where we all get to live more authentically,” Pease said. “I get to see that in the colleagues and in the people that I’ve met who are also in that community.”

However, it’s not all perfect at UMD for multiracial LGBTQ+ students, according to Pease. 

“There are gaps, especially for trans communities and queer communities of color that we still need to address,” Pease said.

Pease said they noticed a spike in mental health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic, during their undergraduate years. They said that they unfortunately have had people close to them pass away in no small part due to transphobia and oppression, much of which was exacerbated by the pandemic.

While the psychology department does take steps to address inequities on campus, Pease said there are still students who get left behind due to a lack of resources for people of various backgrounds and identities. Because they exist at the intersections of numerous cultural and social identities, Pease said they try to address those gaps in their work, daily life, and relationships with other people. 

“We should be able to live just as ourselves and authentically connect with one another,” Pease said.

Luckily, Pease has formed strong connections with friends and colleagues who allow them to feel more authentic.

Karoline Trovato, a friend and colleague of Pease’s, has gone through the same programs as Pease and now works with them as a counseling psychology doctoral student.

The two met when Pease was a teacher’s assistant for one of Trovato’s classes, and their lives continued to collide when they became resident assistants in the same building and progressed through the undergraduate psychology program at the same time. However, Trovato said that they only solidified their friendship in their senior year.

“I definitely think our relationship has been one of growth and healing together,” Trovato said. “I feel a lot of support from M.”

Trovato focuses her work on multiculturalism and advocating for gender equality, particularly as it relates to women in the workplace. 

“I see the ways that M has used counseling psychology to really advocate on a policy level, and so I just love that there’s so many different applications to it and ways to contribute,” Trovato said in an interview. “I am truly impressed by M’s dedication to advocating and making meaningful contributions to their communities.”

Pease is quite a decorated student, with over 20 research-related credits, countless academic awards, and lots of clinical experience. But despite all of these awards and credits, what makes Pease happy, they said, is knowing that they are helping people and making a difference in others’ lives.

“A lot of what I do feels like trying to find the moments of joy within while also holding on to an understanding of the systems and structures that make life more difficult,” Pease said.

Jonathan Mohr, Pease’s advisor, views Pease’s professionalism as beyond their years.

“It’s been sort of a marvel to see M keep their social justice work outside of research going while being a full-time graduate student,” Mohr said in an interview.

Mohr described the doctoral program as a “scientist-practitioner model,” meaning that they are training students to become both excellent scientists and practitioners in the field of psychology. The University of Maryland offers five Ph.D. programs in psychology, and the advisors work closely with their students.

“I consider myself to be somebody who cares a lot about social justice, and I feel like what I do is just a little drop in the bucket compared to what M is doing,” Mohr said. “So it’s really inspiring to me personally, just to see what they can accomplish while being a full-time doctoral student.”

A lot of Pease’s work focuses on social justice issues such as LGBTQ+ rights and the availability of mental health services. Their work impacts campus communities as well as those outside of the university. One such research project was the Trans+ Critical Campus Priorities list they organized in 2021, which addressed problems and provided solutions to issues concerning transgender and queer students on campus. Additionally, they contributed to the Trans Maryland survey report in 2023.

They even work with the state. Pease is a member of the Maryland Commission on LGBTQIA+ Affairs. Mohr, who said that this is an incredibly high level of advocacy work, is impressed by Pease’s ability to balance this role among other duties as a full-time student.

Pease draws on their lived experiences in their work. As a member of the trans, LGBTQ+, and multiracial communities, they have experienced inequities firsthand.

“The answer I feel drawn to both on a personal and professional level is, what does it mean to allow love to thrive?” Pease said when asked about what they are most passionate about. “How does that become the center of one’s life in a way that deconstructs the oppressive messages around love and connection that a lot of us experience?”

Although Pease is proud of their countless academic achievements, they hope that the thing they are most proud of at the end of their life is the connections they’ve made to other people.

“What I hope is true, and what I tried to strive for…I want this to be the thing I’m most proud of at the end of my life, is the relationships that I build with people, the ways that I have loved the people in my life, the ways that I’ve tried to care for the people whose lives I’ve had the opportunity to intersect with in personal or professional capacities,” Pease said. “That’s what I think is most important.”

If there is one thing Pease emphasizes most in not only their work but in their existence as a human, it would be the importance of finding and advocating for spaces in which people can fearlessly be their authentic selves. 

“We need more people like M,” Trovato said.

Featured image: M Pease, a doctoral student in counseling psychology, smiles for a photo in their lab in the Biology-Psychology Building at the University of Maryland on April 2, 2024. (Jess Daninhirsch/Stories Beneath the Shell)