Finding My Voice

Before I came to Whitman, I was extremely passionate about becoming a physician assistant. I had a full 4-year plan for my prerequisite classes, I shadowed 50-plus hours with a PA, and I thought that this would be my life plan.

In the fall of my sophomore year, I took Developmental Psychology with Melissa Clearfield. I loved learning about how children develop and how so many outside and biological factors can contribute to one's psychological composition. I vividly remember starting a unit on speech and language development and I was instantly infatuated. I began researching the importance of child speech development and I discovered the profession of Speech and Language Pathology. I felt drawn to this profession as communication is so crucial to our world and building connections with others. As a leader, tour guide, and just a human being, communication plays such an important role in my daily life as I speak with diverse populations constantly. I could not imagine having hardships with something so important to me and my daily life.

As I felt a calling to this work, I started looking for summer opportunities in correlation with my passion. I stumbled upon an internship at ICAN Children’s Therapy. At this clinic, there are various resources for children such as physical, behavioral, occupational, and speech therapy. I thought this was the perfect experience as I could work directly with these kids who receive these services to get an insight into what my professional life could look like. With the support of Whitman, I was able to participate in this internship and I had so many life-changing experiences.

There was one girl in our program who I met right at the beginning. She has the kindest heart and is the most outgoing, loving, and radiating personality. She has an intense speech impediment and was receiving lots of speech therapy at the clinic. I could see how difficult it was to watch her try to communicate with others and they dismissed her or got frustrated because they couldn’t understand what she was saying. Even with the assistance of an Augmentative and Alternative Communication Device, which helps children with hearing or speech impairments effectively communicate, it was still a struggle.

Over the weeks of my time in the program, one of the most rewarding things was watching her speech improve with therapy. It was so amazing watching the relief of being able to say words and have people understand what she was saying. It was so life-changing to see someone's life change right in front of you over a period of time with something you have never had to think twice about. Reflecting on my internship experience, getting to know her made me 100% sure that I am meant to be a speech therapist.

This opportunity would not have been possible without the help from Whitman College and the Whitman Internship Grant. I am forever thankful for this experience as it made me absolutely positive about what I want to pursue after my 4 years as a Whittie. I will forever look back on this experience and remember that little girl who changed my life perspective and passions. Everyone deserves a place in this world, and in this world, everyone deserves to be heard and understood.