Speech Language Pathologist Personal Statement

Growing up in the small town of Livingston, Tennessee, I attended speech language therapy with my brother who is four years younger; I was only 6-10 years old when this occurred. The therapist, Ms. Susan, would use me during therapy sessions to play games and interact with my brother as she tried to elicit communication from him. From this experience, my dream of becoming a speech language pathologists blossomed. Moreover, I was very passionate about helping my brother learn to effectively communicate with his peers. During high school, I found great joy in helping students and adults with special needs. I often took Bryan, my friend with special needs, to local sporting events and found great joy in learning to communicate with him. As I learned more about speech language pathology by shadowing the school system’s speech language pathologist and volunteering with the hospital’s speech language pathologist, it became clear I was meant to become a speech language pathologist. Seeing Ms. Susan’s impact on not only my brother, but my family as a whole was such an enlightening experience.
I entered MTSU with 43 hours completed as a dual enrollment student. Thanks

to the excellent advisement at MTSU, I will earn my Bachelor’s degree in August of 2018 after just two years in college. MTSU began helping me when I was a junior in high school by advising me and making sure I entered the program ready to accomplish my goals. My goals were and still are to graduate MTSU with a 4.0 in two years and to gain admission to graduate school in Speech Language Pathology.
MTSU requires a minor, which has allowed me to pursue my other passion.

As a dual enrollment student, I was fortunate enough to study abroad. I received a scholarship to participate in the TNCIS Grand European Capitals program and spent three weeks in Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin. This experience was the start of my minor at MTSU. While at MTSU, I was able to do another study abroad. I spent two weeks in Russia and traveled to four different Russian cities. Traveling abroad has opened my mind to different ways of doing things and helped me become more independent while seeing the world. Ironically, in my first clinical internship, I was assigned a teen with a strong British accent, and my study abroad experience was very useful. I was able to differentiate dialectal differences from actual

errors.
As I finish my senior year, it is my goal to gain admission to graduate school so that I can fulfill my goal of becoming a speech language therapist. I attended MTSU because they provided me with an opportunity to do research and have clinical experience during my undergraduate studies. I feel that these experiences, along with the CDIS coursework, have prepared me to succeed at the graduate level. My prior education demonstrates my work ethic and aptitude for the field. I not only want to earn my Master’s degree and Certificate of Clinical Competency, I want to grow and develop as a speech language pathologist so that I will positively impact the lives of many, as Ms. Susan did for me.