WIth graduation creeping up, I wanted to take a moment to look back at my time at Winona State, specifically to the people in my major, Recreation, Tourism and Therapeutic Recreation (RTTR). I came to Winona State with the major of “deciding,” which I honestly think is the BEST option for the majority of people because many students end up changing their major during their time in school anyway. I kind of randomly picked my major during the second semester of my freshman year. I remember talking to an alum who was at the department’s table at the Major and Career Exploration Fair. I remember how the excitement she had when she talked about her career made me interested in at least taking a class in the department.
So fast forward almost three years later, and I am graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Therapeutic Recreation and a minor in Psychology in just a few weeks. Here are a few “shoutouts” to my major, people, places, and everything in between.
To my classmates, thanks for playing along with the requirements of the classes, whether that was through participation in presentations in classes such as Interventions or team building exercises in Leadership. We stuck together and finished tasks, even though it may have looked silly at times. And for those group projects, we did it… and thank goodness we got those out of the way!
To the professors, thanks for making the major fun and interesting. You brought energy to every class, which made attending the classes fun and not boring. Even though some of the projects involved lots of tedious hard work and required maximum effort to complete, it has prepared us for what our future careers have in store for us.
To my internship supervisor, Janelle and everyone else at the VA Medical Center, thank you for being patient with me and showing me (almost) all there is to know about Recreation Therapy. I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the “and more” side of therapies during my almost four-months stint at the Medical Center. I loved seeing each one of your individual passions for the profession, which makes me excited to be in this field and my future in it.
Thank you, RTTR, for making Winona State feel like a place that I grew into and also a place to call home through the connections and relationships I formed while in the program. It has really been an exciting time, but I cannot wait to see where this degree will take me—who knows, I may be skiing in Colorado with veterans or riding bikes with kiddos in a hospital.