Willa June Wamsley
My Major and Career Goals
I am an Exercise Science major on a Pre-Physical Therapy track. As a high school student, I experienced an injury of my own after tearing my ACL. I underwent double knee ACL reconstruction surgery where the surgeon took a piece of my patellar tendon for my new ACL. It was extremely tough recovering, but I was fascinated with the science behind it and loved going to physical therapy and seeing what my physical therapist did every time I had an appointment. Around this time was when I decided I wanted to pursue an education and career in physical therapy.
As a freshman, I became involved in several opportunities for physical therapy. Being in the Indianapolis area offers many volunteering, shadowing, and work opportunities. I was able to volunteer for the AFC and MAC, programs for individuals with disabilities to come to the IUI campus and participate in physical activities ran by kinesiology students. I received a lot of clinical experience with these programs, working with several clients and creating weekly activity plans for them.
During freshman year, I also started working at Athletico Physical Therapy in Castleton. Here, I strengthened my knowledge in communication and teaching while helping patients with their exercises at their appointments. This job provided me with a lot of patient experience as I worked there from January 2023 to December 2025. With Athletico, I also had the opportunity to help my manager at races such as the Indy Monumental Marathon, the Carmel marathon, and Fort Ben. Runners are able to receive free stretching after their race, and I was able to help them check in at our table. It was fun seeing all of the runners at each race, and I enjoyed working with the physical therapists and learning from them as they stretched runners.
Shadowing at IU Methodist and Eskenazi Health gave me a glimpse at what physical therapists do in inpatient care, especially for neuro. During my observation hours, a lot of patients that we saw experienced traumatic brain injuries from motor vehicle accidents, so the physical therapy was drastically different from what you would see in ortho. This type of care was very eye opening for me, and there was a moment where a patient made a huge step in progress and it was really exciting for the patient, family, and physical therapy team. This was a reminder of my "why physical therapy". It reminded me of how physical therapy is more than just helping patients move and recover from an injury, it's about the patient reaching milestones to piecing their life back together. That's how I knew I want to go into this profession; I want to be the physical therapist that can help bring confidence and positive energy into a room.
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Becoming involved in each of these experiences throughout my undergraduate career helped set me up for applying to physical therapy school. I learned quickly how to be professional in clinical settings such as the MAC and AFC, working at Athletico, and shadowing at inpatient hospitals including IU Methodist and Eskenazi Health. I grew a lot as a student, and I was able to go into physical therapy school interviews with confidence. As I finish up my internship with NeuroHope Wellness, I feel I my patient experience in a neuro clinical setting have strengthened my confidence and abilities before I start at UIndy Krannert School of Physical Therapy.