How I Have Become an Emerging Professional

The Honors College Program at IUI has shaped me into the person I am today as an emerging professional. I have had the pleasure of being a part of many volunteering opportunities including the Motor Activity Clinic and Ability Fitness Clinic that have helped expose me to experience in working with individuals with disabilities of all ages. I have improved my professionalism while working with professors to complete honors projects. I have also been able to participate in my senior internship at NeuroHope Wellness Outpatient Clinic as part of my honors experience, where I've gained a lot of knowledge and experience with patients who have experienced neurological injuries. Each of these experiences have immensely helped me learn and grow as a Pre-Physical Therapy major, setting me up for success as I go into Physical Therapy school in the fall at the University of Indianapolis Krannert School of Physical Therapy.

My Growth from H200 to Today

As a freshman starting H200, the Intro to Honors course, I was a driven and ambitious student with a dream and goal to get into physical therapy school after finishing up my undergraduate. I was not expecting to have the experiences I had with the Honors College, and I’m glad I had those opportunities. Now as a senior, my ambitions and dreams have expanded, and I feel more prepared than I thought I would have been without these experiences in Honors College.

The experiences that helped prepare me include:

My time with the MAC and AFC, where I worked to create activities and strength workouts for individuals with disabilities of ages from 3 to 15 and older. With this experience, I learned how to lead. As someone with a struggle in confidence, I understood quickly how to become a leader while being in the role of a personal trainer. I lead several clients through different activities, giving incentives and rewards to the younger clients with the MAC as well as teaching proper form when doing different exercises at the gym for the AFC. This honors volunteering experience helped me to get out of my comfort zone and gain some confidence in myself to become a professional.
My Honors Contract in Kine-P452, Motor Learning, where I wrote case studies on neurological diseases and drugs that affect the nervous system. This experience helped me to improve my critical thinking and research skills, as well as my professionalism and communication while working with the professor for Motor Learning to ensure I am meeting all of the criteria for the case studies and asking questions when needed.
My internship at NeuroHope Wellness Outpatient Clinic has provided me with fast growth and knowledge in the neurological field with patients of different conditions and injuries. I am able to improve my professional skills by working and communicating with NeuroHope’s PTs, OTs, and Guided Exercise Trainers. I also had the opportunity to work with one of the trainers to complete my internship project with the MultiFit class working on a group lifting challenge to lift 33 Indy 500 race cars.

Being a part of these experiences has been extremely rewarding and has helped me evolve into an emerging professional soon to be going to physical therapy school.

"I call all medical professionals angels, because all medical professionals that I have defended are amazing people. So good luck to you on becoming an angel!"

-A defense attorney I spoke with at my host job recently :)

As you look through my ePortfolio, I’ve included several artifacts that outline my growth, learning, and perspective as an Honors College graduate. This includes:

Volunteering with multiple programs such as Live Laugh Dance, the MAC, and the AFC working with individuals with disabilities to provide opportunities for physical activity.
Honors Contracts in multiple classes throughout my undergraduate career including Biomechanics, Motor Learning, Kinesiology, and others helping me to work on critical thinking skills, research, and problem solving by writing case studies, taking data, and researching techniques used for orthopedic surgeries while collaborating with my professors on feedback for the projects.
Shadowing at hospitals and interning at NeuroHope Wellness providing me with experiences that have shifted my perspective and interests in pursuing a specialty in neuro rather than only ortho physical therapy.

Each of these artifacts that I’ve listed have been meaningful experiences learning from Exercise Science professors, physical therapists at inpatient hospitals such as Eskenazi and IU Methodist and research through multiple classes and projects.

My Showcased Artifacts and their Demonstration

Application is no longer available.

The PDF attached is from my honors project in Microcomputers in Kinesiology where we took data from individuals jumping onto a force plate.

Reflection

Each of these artifacts demonstrates change and growth in myself from freshman year to now, where I developed many connections to the Honors College and community. Through volunteering, I strengthened my communication and problem solving with staff and students when creating activity plans for individuals with disabilities and expanded my knowledge in kinesiology with several exercise science-based classes. Before becoming a student at IUI, I had little experience and knowledge in health sciences. The Honors College helped me quickly develop strong study habits, work ethics, and professionalism that has helped set me up for applying and being accepted into physical therapy school.