UF NSSLHA decided to give back to boys and girls all over the world this year through Operation Christmas Child. We packed 19 shoe boxes full of toys, candy, school supplies, hygiene products, and personal notes. For a lot of kids in needy countries, these shoe boxes will be the only presents they receive all year. We had so much fun putting the boxes together and love knowing that we gave to such a great cause. If you'd like to learn more about Operation Christmas Child or fill a shoe box to donate, visit the Samaritan's Purse website. Watch the video below to catch a glimpse of how many lives OCC touches each Christmas season!
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Name: Kellie Brooke School: University of Florida Program: Doctorate of Audiology Year: 1st Year Clinical Interests: A little bit of everything! Haven’t found anything I don’t like yet! What do you enjoy most about UF’s program? Two things: the faculty and clinic rotations. I didn’t meet many of the faculty since PhD students taught all of my undergrad audiology classes. The clinicians really are WONDERFUL! They genuinely want to see you succeed and go the extra mile to make sure you understand what you are doing. I have never felt unprepared with a patient. Second, we graduate with close to 1000 hours of hands-on clinical experience. That’s more than I’ve seen in any other program - and prepares you for your externship! From the very first day we are in clinic working with real patients. Other programs you have to wait until your second year before you ever see a real patient! That was definitely a big selling point for UF! What clinical experiences do UF and the Gainesville area have to offer? I was actually surprised by all the options we have in Gainesville! Like I mentioned, you start your first day of grad school in clinic! Some options are Hearing Aids, Cochlear Implants, ENT office at Hampton Oaks, Newborn Hearing Screenings, Auditory Processing Disorders, Vestibular ENG, Pediatric and Adult Aural Rehabilitation, Veteran’s Administration, Living with Hearing Loss classes, and more! How prepared did you feel going into grad school? Man, that’s a tough one! It’s a totally different ball game now. In undergrad, everything was rote memorization. You made up acronyms to pass your tests and forgot the material the next day. You can’t do that in graduate school. You learn how to study so that you really REMEMBER the information because one day you’ll see a patient and you’ll need to know what to do. The very first day my anatomy and physiology class we covered everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, I’d ever learned in undergrad - that sure was an eye opener. But now halfway through the semester I am comfortable with the material. The best way to prepare yourself is to come in with an open mind and ready to learn! I’ve learned more in two months than I ever could have imagined! How do you feel your grades, GRE scores, letters of recommendation, resume, etc. affected you during the application process? I had a great GPA and standard GRE scores. I think the most important thing is your personal statement and letters of rec! That’s definitely what they weight the most. I was accepted to schools over other people with higher GRE scores – they aren’t everything!! Also, UF was very interested that we had previous observation experience in audiology. It’s impossible to figure out what the schools are thinking. I was accepted to some of my reach schools and then denied by safety schools. Bring as much as you can to the table because you never know what may catch their eye! Any tips for the application process? Get letters of recommendation EARLY!!! I cannot stress that enough. Many professors put a cap on how many they write. I would recommend taking the GRE twice. Most people I know did much better the second time because they are more comfortable and less anxious. When applying to out of state schools really consider the cost! It’s unrealistic to graduate with $150,000 of debt! That was a big reason I stayed in state! What do you wear to class and clinic? Class is casual, pretty much the same as undergrad. You can wear nice clothes or gym clothes. They don’t care. Clinic however, you must dress professional. Slacks with a nice shirt or a dress and closed toe flats. They are pretty strict on dress code, but they go over all that with you in orientation. Does being in grad school make Gainesville feel any different? YES! This was something I was really worried about when I decided to stay at UF. But you are so busy with class and clinic, and I have 13 new best friends! I don’t go to all the same places I did when I was in undergrad either. You can make it a completely new experience! Any last tips or comments? RELAX! You will end up exactly where you are supposed to! Get your applications done early and enjoy the rest of your senior year! If you have any suggestions for next month's grad school spotlight or any questions you want me to start asking, please email me at [email protected]. Thanks! Name: Rachel Homza School: University of South Florida Program: Speech-Language Pathology Year: 1st Year Clinical Interests: Used to be kids, now I like too many things. Pediatric swallowing is still my favorite observation experience. What do you enjoy most about USF’s program? The diversity of clients being in Tampa and all the options for second-year practicum are exciting. We have a clinic here on campus, which has its pros and cons. I am in VFN (voice-fluency-neuro) practicum right now, which I hear is supposed to be the most difficult section, however, I am totally inspired by my clients. What clinical experiences do USF and the Tampa area have to offer? Well, the first year, you go through a rotation within the on-campus clinic. Right now, I am in the VFN section, and I work with an individual with aphasia and a TBI group (with another graduate clinician.) Next semester I will have Dx, and during the summer, I have LP (language-phonology) with the little guys. I don’t know a ton about the clinical opportunities out in the community here yet. I’ve heard that Moffitt Cancer Center and the VA are big placements, and there are a few childrens’ hospitals. There’s a children's hospital near St. Pete if you live in that area. It’s a commuter school, so you they work with you on where you live and what’s convenient for you also. You interview at least with 2 locations for each placement your second year. You do have opportunity for more specialized areas due to being in a city. For example, one of the supervisors in my section specializes in selective mutism, which is rare. How prepared did you feel going into grad school? I was surprised by how unprepared I was. You’re not supposed to be prepared though. That’s the point. They set the bar really high so that you learn how to find information and collaborate with your cohorts, but it can definitely be very stressful and overwhelming. I think they like to teach through your mistakes, and you end up doing everything twice, so that’s something I was unprepared for, and its not everybody’s learning style. However, I think the UF program did a very good job of preparing me for grad school- not only in academics, but in other life skills as well. According to my clinical supervisor, I’m “right where [I’m] supposed to be.” Something else that I wasn’t expecting was how much I would feel for my clients. Half of the sessions, my aphasia client asks me what happened to her, and there are a lot of other emotional things that go along with that. I don’t have all the time in the world to ponder it, but this is something to prepare yourself for leading into grad school. It’s real just real life, and everyone will be fine, its just not something I was really thinking about when I began. How do you feel your grades, GRE scores, letters of recommendation, resume, etc. affected you during the application process? Its not like we get to see what we got wrong, like on an online quiz that we can retake and fix our answers, so I really don’t know, except that I got in. I think the application process in general with a lot of schools was significantly more competitive than previous years, and I wasn’t expecting it. I didn’t get into my ‘back-up’ schools or my ‘reach’ schools or anywhere out of state. Everyone’s experience is different with the application process, and as much as rejections sting, I am ever grateful I wasn’t on anybody’s waitlist, because I feel I already had a really hard decision between the schools I did choose from. Any tips for the application process? I know some professors said not to take a GRE class, but I did, and I’m so happy I made that decision. When considering GRE studying, choose the right option for YOU. Having the structure of going to a class, and having required practice to take advantage of the guarantee is really what I needed. If you are more disciplined than me, you may not need a class, but my KAPLAN instructor was perfectly goofy and animated to help me remember vocab words. It really helped remember things due to his fake British accent on random comprehension questions. What do you wear to class and clinic? We wear scrubs on days we are treating. There’s a policy about footwear too, because according to heresay, a group of clinicians would come in wearing heels with their scrubs. I was like… what? Also, on class days, you often end up going to the clinic to look something up about your client, check out materials, print, etc. and appropriate business casual is required for that floor of the building in general, so I end up dressing up for class in case I unexpectedly need to visit the clinic. What’s life like in Tampa? CONS: Traffic, expensive food, fewer food options close to home, and crime. I miss Gainesville food. PROS: Beach, Busch Gardens, fun places to go. I have gotten to know my neighbors better than I did in undergrad. The first weekend I moved in, they invited me to brunch. They are all retirees. My siblings live in South Tampa, so I like seeing them more. We will all be going jet-skiing next weekend. There are different opportunities for free yoga that I like to take advantage of. Any last tips or comments? Rescue a cat. If you have any suggestions for next month's grad school spotlight or any questions you want me to start asking, please email me at [email protected]. Thanks!
This month I had the opportunity to catch up with last year's NSSLHA Vice President, Molly Ramassini! She's here to answer some questions about SLP grad school and what it's like to be a Seminole. Name: Molly Ramassini School: Florida State University Program: Master of Science in Communication Science & Disorders Year: 1st year Clinical Interests: Working with children with autism (specifically early intervention), and possibly fluency disorders. But I'm open to other options of course! What do you enjoy most about FSU’s program? My favorite part is the faculty. The faculty is absolutely AMAZING in how much faith they have in your clinical capabilities, even when you're doubting yourself. I also like their format— you take all of your core classes your first year and do all of your clinical rotations within the FSU clinic your first year, and then your second year is all of your electives and your community placements. Also, EVERYONE in my cohort receives some type of funding. Most people either have a graduate assistant position, or are on a grant. I am on the ASSET grant, which is geared towards my interests in Autism and early intervention. The other grant is TIES, which has a focus on multi-cultural issues and children with severe disabilities. What clinical experiences does FSU have to offer? The first year consists of working within the FSU clinic. There are four teams you could be placed on: CHILD (children under the age of 18), LISTEN (children with hearing impairments), ACE (adults with cognitive deficits), and SPEECH (adults with speech disorders, such as fluency or literacy). After you do either 2 or 3 of these teams (your choice), you're placed out into the community with one semester in the schools and one semester in a medical setting. For this first semester, I am on the CHILD team with 2 clients, and I am also a part of a Social Skills group that is group therapy with adults with social skill deficits. How prepared did you feel going into grad school? I felt like I learned a lot during my undergrad experience, but I also felt like I didn't retain a lot of that information. However, the curriculum here does a good job at overviewing all of the academics covered in undergrad. As for the workload, it is a lot more in grad school, and it’s a big adjustment I'm having to make! How do you feel your grades, GRE scores, letters of recommendation, resume, etc. affected you during the application process? I feel like what FSU mostly looked at were my experiences and personal statement. The other aspects probably helped somewhat, but I think the first two weighed the most heavily on their decision. Any tips for the application process? Apply to schools that you can realistically see yourself going to. Also, follow the method of applying to 1-2 reach schools, 1-2 safety schools, and 2-3 schools that could go either way. And don't focus too much on a schools ranking - schools are mostly ranked on their research, so be aware of that. When choosing which schools to apply to, make sure you can see yourself living in that place and if that school has anything related to what you want to focus in (if you don't know what you want to focus in, that’s ok too!!). What do you wear to class and clinic? To class you can wear whatever you want!! However, for clinic, you have to wear business casual - nice shirt, slacks, khakis, no flip flops, etc. The biggest thing that they made us aware of is to make sure your shirt isn't revealing if you're playing on the floor with a child. What’s life like in Tallahassee? Besides the ugly garnet and gold colors I see everywhere (Go Gata!), Tallahassee is actually really fun! It’s a lot like Gainesville and there are a lot of fun things to do on the weekends—farmers markets, running trails, and a fun night life (yes, you still have time to go out...sometimes). Any last-minute advice? Don’t stress too much about your GRE scores! There are other aspects of your application that can help you if that isn't your strongpoint. Also, have fun your senior year and don't stress too much about applications! Enjoy undergrad while you can! If you have any suggestions for next month's grad school spotlight or any questions you want me to start asking, please email me at [email protected]. Thanks!
Welcome to the new blog for UF’s chapter of NSSLHA! I’m Brianna and I’m your corresponding secretary. I’ll be using this blog to update club members and the community about all of the wonderful things that we’re doing! Thanks for visiting and be sure to stay tuned! In the mean time, check out our newly updated social media pages!
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February 2018
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