About Willa

I am currently a senior at Indiana University Indianapolis studying Exercise Science on a Pre-Physical Therapy track. Throughout the last few years, I have had the opportunity to be a part of many different experiences that have helped me grow professionally.

Since freshman year, I've developed key qualities that I believe are essential in physical therapy including significant improvement in my confidence, work ethic, innovation, and critical thinking skills. I have done this through volunteering with the Motor Activity Clinic, Ability Fitness Clinic, and Live Laugh Dance, with leadership roles in the Pre-Physical Therapy Club and Exercise is Medicine, and as a rehab aide at Athletico Physical Therapy.

One example of growth that helped me come out of my shell a little bit was when I volunteered with Live Laugh Dance, a dancing program for individuals with Down Syndrome of all ages. Dancing is not a great talent of mine, but I knew that this would be a great experience for me to be able to get out of my comfort zone. This experience challenged me as I had to think of creative ways to cue my client. I tried standing in front of her to show her the moves, but I found this way wasn't as effective. Eventually, I was able to think of using verbal cueing for her and found good results with that. I used words like "Guitar" to play the air guitar, "Party" for throwing our hands up in the air and jumping around, and more. She would often repeat the words to me and do the move, and I could tell that it was fun for her. This experience allowed me to improve my ability to further communicate instructions in creative and memorable ways and helped me to be more confident as a leader.

An example of using my critical thinking skills is when I was paired with a client for the Ability Fitness Clinic. With this experience, I was challenged to write detailed activity plans for my client in the gym. I had never coached one on one in a personal training session before, so this was very new to me. I learned how to build relationships with my client as I supported her and cheered her on through her exercises. This experience deepened my ability to create programs that enhance daily function and align with a client’s personal goals and interests.

As a Pre-Physical Therapy club officer, I have been able to improve my professional skills as I help lead the club and mentor members who are seeking a career in physical therapy. I have been in charge of sending out emails, creating fliers and posts to promote the club, and more. As officers, we often try to think of different ways for engagement, such as planning end of semester hangouts, making notes for PT month in October, touring the IU DPT campus, and having info sessions from our experiences with PTCAS and interview day. These responsibilities have helped improve my professionalism and leadership while supporting peers pursuing physical therapy.

Click through the images below from my experiences!