Amy is 22 years old and is a senior studying Speech Pathology and Audiology at UNCG. She’s graduating early this semester with her bachelor’s degree; over the course of this semester, she’s been able to work with Speech Language Pathologists while volunteering at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Upon graduation, she hopes to attend graduate school at UNCG next year to obtain a master’s degree in Speech Language Pathology.
Q: What made you want to go into this career field?
A: “I wanted to work with children or elderly adults in a way that was helpful, but I didn’t want to be a teacher or a nurse. So, this was kind of a middle ground, and it’s a growing field. After I started taking the classes for the major, I fell in love with the field!”
Q: What’s your ideal job after graduating?
A: “My ideal job is to work in a hospital with adults in acute care. I would get to do swallow and language/cognitive evaluations for patients who have had a stroke, cancer, a traumatic brain injury, or any other impairment.”
Q: How were you able to graduate early?
A: “I was able to graduate a semester early because I came in with about a semester’s worth of AP credits, and then last summer I took an online class that I would have had to take in the spring in order to graduate early. I was able to foresee that and plan ahead because I pretty much had all my semesters planned since beginning of Sophomore year.”
Q: Where do you volunteer at? What do you do while volunteering?
A: “I volunteer at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. I am in the acute adult inpatient area for half of the time and in the outpatient pediatrics for the other half. In both areas I help stock, make copies, cleanup after swallow studies and set up for swallow studies. When I’m not doing volunteer duties, I am allowed to shadow and observe the speech-language pathologists.”
Q: How did you find out about the opportunity?
A: “I found out about it through my professor. She sent an email to everyone in our major, giving us the chance to apply for it.”
Q: What would you recommend to students looking for volunteer opportunities in the medical field?
A: “I would recommend checking hospital websites for volunteer information, because pretty much every hospital has a way to volunteer. Also, ask your professors if they know of anything! In college, your professors, especially those in your major, are the most valuable resource you have.”