Why do I want to become a physical therapist?’. From a young age I loved to help people, I loved the idea of working with people and helping young athletes like I once was heal from injury and prevent injury. I kept coming back to the same why that lead me to continue my athletic career; passion for helping others and making an impact on the community and my loved ones.

As an exercise science major at West Chester University, I discovered my love of  learning about movement and how to optimize this movement and prevent injury for myself  throughout my career. I found myself training at a high level during the off seasons in the summer and winter to make sure I was in the best shape possible to perform at a high level during intense practice in the fall and the long seasons in the spring.

As hard as I worked on the field, I worked even harder in the classroom so I could get into PT school to continue to pursue my passion. My hard work finally paid off when I got into Neumann University to start in the summer of 2020. After the heartbreak of my senior season being cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic, I had lost my why. The passion I had and the impact I was making was gone within a matter of one week as the world shut down around me.

My journey in PT school is one of finding my passion and ‘my why’ again. It was a journey in which I started out on Zoom with no interaction with classmates, taking online exams, having virtually no motivation, to becoming one of finding myself and who I was again. Neumann University gave me some of my closest friends who have pushed me to find that passion again.

The meaning of becoming a DPT means so much more to me than the 3 letters behind my name. It represents going through adversity, regaining my passion and desire to make a difference and the ability to take my story and help others get through a difficult time in their life whether it is injury or losing sight of their ‘why’.