My passion for helping others has shaped me into who I am today, and what I aspire to be in the future. I am pursuing Pediatric Occupational Therapy, a career that I truly think is perfect for me. Pediatric Occupational Therapy is super helpful for families of children with physical, cognitive, and sensory disabilities. As a pediatric occupational therapist, my daily workload will be helping kids become masters of their own bodies. I will get to help my clients strengthen their muscles by thoughtfully playing with interactive games, adaptive tools, and other toys that can be used to motivate movement and progress. The idea of being able to experience the progress of independence sounds so exciting and so rewarding. Occupational therapy also treats people recovering from injuries like amputations, shattered reconstructed bones, and other severe injuries. My aunt shattered her elbow last summer and is currently working with an occupational therapist to regain full mobility and function of her elbow. She has been sharing her occupational therapy journey with me, and just seeing how she is healing and how her occupational therapist is helping her, is so intriguing and interesting. I would love to be the person helping another person regain full function of their elbow. I have only had experience working with physically and cognitively impaired children, but I also think that working with people recovering from severe injuries sounds super fun and fulfilling as well. I can just imagine the rewarding feeling that must overcome people when they notice their positive progress. As soon as I found out what occupational therapy was, I became excited about my future. I chose occupational therapy after I realized that I really did not want to go into teaching. My mom suggested occupational therapy and after just a little research, I was hooked. I spoke to a professor of the Drake University Occupational Therapy program, and it was as if she had reached into my brain and pulled out the perfect job for me based on my personality and my career goals. After that conversation, I got the opportunity to visit and shadow an occupational therapist at the Shriner’s Clinic in Woodbury, MN. It was the coolest experience ever. I got to see so many things that I loved about occupational therapy and learned even more. The opportunity to shadow an occupational therapist for the day further solidified my career choice. I was able to sit with the children and help with their treatment hands-on by holding an action figure for them to grab while working on tightening their tummy muscles. It was so insightful and so cool. I am so excited to pursue occupational therapy because I believe it is incredibly important for people to have the opportunity to have the independence that they are capable of. Occupational therapy is a growing field with many opportunities for continuing education to grow your knowledge. There is always something new and something exciting, that sounds like a dream. I know that I will make a positive impact on so many kids' lives and that alone is enough to motivate me to become the best occupational therapist I can be.