Presenting My First Poster at AOTA

April 22, 2019
by Joyce

Getting Involved What are OS/OT?

If you had asked me last year, I would have told you that presenting at AOTA was definitely not in my future plans. But here I was with my partner, Tabitha Lin, presenting on the role of occupational therapy in the student run clinic! & what a FUN experience this was!!

During the poster session, Tabitha and I were standing by our poster and engaging in conversations with attendees who were passing. It was interesting to see both students and program directors come up to us. We encountered directors who were trying to set up a similar student run clinic in their occupational therapy program and asked us questions about our model. I had so much fun discussing my experiences as a co-chair exec for SRC as well as the experiences our student volunteers had.

In addition, this was my first AOTA conference and my first time being in New Orleans, LA! Conference is definitely a hustling busy time with so many moving parts. In addition to the poster presentation, as a student ambassador, I also worked the USC booth during the expo hours. I enjoyed this part of conference as I was able to interact with alumni and perspective students who were thinking about pursuing their PhD or Doctorate at SC. I also got to explore other booths including Nike, Zappos, and Microsoft to explore their adaptive shoes, clothing, and gaming equipment.

NOLA was extremely fun with its culture in food and drinks. I think I consumed way too many oysters during my time there. My friends and I got drinks after conference sessions and explored the city together!

I think going to a national conference such as AOTA as a student is such a unique experience and I highly encourage all students to go! As a student, there is no pressure to go to all sessions (to accrue continuing education) but to truly explore different parts/practice areas and enjoy conference for what it is! It’s also a great networking opportunity, I found myself talking with occupational therapists from New York who were looking to hire, so opportunities all around!

⋯