Path to Helping Leads To, Through, St. galaxy银河娱乐场app

Occupational Therapist Finds Purpose and Calling

玛姬(凡尔登)伯纳特15年, 的16个摩托, OTR/L worried about the little boy who sat alone on the steps at school. He was always in Time-Out, watching his kindergarten classmates laugh and play nearby. 麦琪心碎了. He needed help more than punishment, the 8th-grader thought. She looked forward to being able to help kids like him when she grew up and became a teacher like her mom.

Like her mother, Maggie is indeed following her dream to help children. 但不是在教室里. 而不是, she became a pediatric occupational therapist who, 年仅30岁, also manages a newly opened Davenport pediatric therapy clinic. She credits both her mother and her alma mater, St. galaxy银河娱乐场app.

"Mom knew I loved science," Maggie says. "So she suggested I look into occupational therapy."

Maggie shadowed occupational therapists in high school, 知道他们是有创造力的, 富有同情心的, can-do people who developed trusting relationships with their patients. By the time she was ready to apply to colleges, Maggie was hooked on the idea. Occupational Therapy was how she would help children.

The next question was where she would go to college.

选择圣. galaxy银河娱乐场app

Maggie considered several universities, including St. galaxy银河娱乐场app. Its occupational therapy program looked good, 有前途的优质学习, 杰出的教师, 高董事会认证率, and outstanding professional placements.

然后，她拜访了.

"I fell in love with the campus during my tour," the self-described farm girl says today. "I grew up near the tiny community of Odell, IL, about 45 minutes south of Joliet. St. galaxy银河娱乐场app was the right amount of big, but small enough to be a home, a community I could be a part of."

Maggie says it became apparent that the tightknit St. galaxy银河娱乐场app community was dedicated to her success as a person and a student in a way that a large university might not be able to show. But that goal was only part of the picture. St. galaxy银河娱乐场app was also dedicated to helping her become a contributing member of the greater community.

"Community service is so important at St. galaxy银河娱乐场app，”她说. 从一开始, I was helping box lunches at King's Harvest and clean windows at St Anthony's Church. 一开始我想， What does this have to do with my education? But I soon realized that we were not only washing windows, we were building community together. 我想……. galaxy银河娱乐场app说到做到."

Committed to Academic Excellence, Social Justice

成立于1882年的圣. galaxy银河娱乐场app has not strayed from its diocesan commitment to help students develop intellectually, 精神上, 在伦理上, 社会, 在艺术上, and 物理ly to enrich their own lives and the lives of others. Social justice remains core to its mission.

Maggie was both surprised and gratified by what she found.

“圣. galaxy银河娱乐场app felt very welcoming of all people, 不管他们信仰什么宗教, background, 或种族,她说. "I had grown up going to Mass on Sundays, but didn't feel like it was relevant until I saw how it was lived on campus. I loved how they didn't care what your religion was. They cared about social justice issues and living gospel values. 他们欢迎大问题."

教师, 校园部长, and fellow students looked for ways to help one another and the greater community in everyday interactions, 无论是校内还是校外.

“在圣. galaxy银河娱乐场app, 'No' was never an answer to a need,她说. “答案总是‘是的’.“我的教授们都很棒. They would drop everything to help me any time I needed it. They would meet just to check in with how I was feeling about my classes. My clinical rotations were fantastic. I can't say enough good things about my experience. It helped me see how to be in the world."

被召唤去做出改变

今天, Maggie collaborates with a community of occupational, 物理, and speech therapists at Rock Valley Kids' Therapy to help area kids "find the strength they already have to overcome the barriers they experience every day."

Those words come from a place of personal experience, one that grew out of her early experience as a therapist. It happened when she met a young patient who struggled with the same autoimmune disease Maggie herself had.

"I've had to work to overcome it myself,她说. "I could relate to her issues, so she grew to trust me. We worked together to empower her success. She's in college now and doing great.

"I learned as much from her as she did from me. It's the whole reason I'm here, doing occupational therapy. 这是一种召唤. I want to make a difference in the world. I'm so grateful to have found my purpose."