My road to college was an interesting one that started one day when I played an interesting game with my classmates in a math class. Someone had come to the conclusion what the average person wants to do with their life could be broken down into three job categories. The first job they called the practical job. This job could make the person quite happy, successful, and would definately pay the bills. The second job was called the heartfelt job. This job is where the person's heart truly is. The job would make the person the happiest person alive but may not be possible to achieve due to circumstances surrounding it or it may not be practical for whatever reason. Lastly, the third job was the fantasy job. This is the job that you would probably never get or ever be able to do but its fun to talk about. Many interesting answers arose during the discussion that leave me chuckling even today as I look back. However, there was one person in the disscussion group for which the practical job and the heartfelt job were the same thing and they had nothing for the fantasy job. My first thought was that this person was just uncreative and apparently had on blinders when it came to life. Later I bumped into my guidance counselor and relaid the story, complete with my thoughts on the person. My guidance counselor looked at me, laughed, and then said something that I wasn't prepared for at all. He said, "I think you're jealous. He knows exactly what he wants to do with his life and you wish you did." |
|
||||||
 |
That statement definately started me thinking. Was I really jealous? True, my 'ideal career' had changed quite a few times over the years. True, I was involved in a broad spectrum of activities, all of which I enjoyed immensely. I knew I wanted to work in a people oriented job, but what did I want to do? I thought making a list of the things I enjoyed or was good at would help. Alas, it didn't. The list only reinforced the fact that I would need nine lives to accomplish everything. Thus began a search, a search for what I could do that would make me happy and benefit others at the same time. | ||||||
| I had a friend in my class at the time that did ballet and had a bad knee. She, however, refused to quit dancing and as a result was always back and forth to the doctor. I also had a classmate with cerebral palsy. Both families spent considerable time at the hospital and seeing private practitioners and countless physical therapists. In spending time around both of them I began to see what a vital and important part their physical therapists played in their lives. I, personally, never had an injury that warranted a visit to a physical therpist and so I was quite unfamiliar with the work that they did. I thought the job looked quite interesting so I decided to find out what being a physical therapist entailed. I found out that physical therapists work with people that have suffered injuries or have disabilities by teaching them various exercises and activities that strengthen muscle, improve motility, and relive pain. Their patients range from atheletes, to stroke victims, to people with chronic arthritis and work in a variety of places such as hospitals, colleges, and nursing homes. The job appeared interesting and definately had the major criteria I was searching for because it would require massive interaction with many different types of people. |  |
||||||
 |
During my immersion into the world of physical therapy I discovered that in order to enter a physical therapy school I would first need a graduate degree. Once again I was presented with a problem. What kind of bachelors degree did I want to pursue intially? I felt I was almost back where I started because all the recommended degrees looked interesting too. The answer to my problem, however, dropped out of thin air one day. I had played sports in high school and had done martial arts for quite a few years but at the time I wasn't involved in a sport of any sort because my student council and tutoring duties took up a lot of my time. I still wanted to stay active so I started weightlifting at the gym with my religious studies teacher. During this time I was approached by a friend and she asked me if she could start working out with me to prepare for a hike she was doing for her Girls Brigade Troup. She, however, desired different results than me and my current partner. Before I knew it I had done research and tailored my workout program to better fit her needs. She was quite happy with the results we were getting and then it hit me! Athletic training or exercise science was the perfect undergraduate degree for me. | ||||||
| That is the story of how I ended up at Ithaca College. The School of Human Performance and Health Sciences had exactly the degree I wanted and the broad introductory courses and extensive field work experience required was a definite plus in my books. Also the size and location fit my needs perfectly. So far I've throughly enjoyed my time at the college and I trust things will only get better. I'm confident that I have made the right choice.
Page created and last updated by Kristina Bramwell on
03-Nov-2003
.
   |
