Returning to school

January 11, 2013
by Kendra

Classes School/Life Balance

Happy 2013 blog readers! I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable holiday, I know I did! Below is a picture of my husband and I freezing our bums off in the Pacific Northwest!

But now it’s back to life, back to reality, and back to school. This semester will be unlike any I’ve had so far. The final semester of the MA OT program is when we get the opportunity to begin specializing and focusing on different practice areas. This spring I’m taking Ergonomics, Dysphagia, Motor Control, and Lifestyle Redesign. Each, I believe, will allow me to be a better applicant and employee for working with adults in acute care or outpatient care.

While it is very exciting, it is also terrifying. It’s as if when the ball dropped in Times Square to welcome in 2013, an alarm clock went off in my head screaming ‘real life, real career is coming, be prepared!!’ I feel this tension has settled over me and my peers as we take the final classes and final steps towards becoming certified occupational therapists. And as we near the finish line the alarm clock screams questions: are you sure you want to work with adults? You are so good with kids! Are you sure you want to learn Ergonomics what about Sensory integration? Where do I work? What setting? What side of town? It goes on and on and on.

These same questions overwhelmed me when I was in undergrad, but then I did not have the faculty and peer support and information to help me make smart choices. I know, despite the panic, that I will be supported as I make my first steps as an OT. Yet another reason why I love this school, they prepare me to be a great OT on paper and in person.

That being said, the alarm clock still chimes, but this time I’ll funnel that panic into productive preparation!

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