I remember being asked when I was about to graduate high school the question, “Why physical therapy?” I always had the response that I wanted to help others so that they could have a positive recovery experience. After I responded to the question earlier, the person sort of looked unsatisfied with my answer. Immediately, thoughts flooded my mind and I became worried that my regular response, which people always loved, was somehow not good enough anymore. This person’s physical response to what I thought was a thoughtful answer truly made me question my choice to become a physical therapist. After this encounter, I decided that I was going to question my physical therapist on why he chose physical therapy. I have never been more glad of my decision to do so. Hearing his reasonings and feeling his sincerity while he spoke was the turning point in my time of questioning. He spoke about how he felt called to this job, especially being a person of whom English was his second language, he experienced day after day, the depravity of receiving health care because no provider could assist them. Living in a medically underserved town was already a disadvantage but on top of that, his family could not even get the dismal health care due to their language barrier. Today, he is the only bilingual healthcare provider out of all medical professionals in our town. My appreciation for him grew because he was able to use his care for others to find ways aside from the typical ways of assisting patients. This encounter reassured me that I was on the right path and that I could have a successful future as a physical therapist, as well. Now I realized why I truly wanted to do more than help others in their rehabilitation process. Immediately, I thought about medically underserved towns, like the one myself and my physical therapist grew up in, that do not yet have the resources to help those who desperately need it yet. In my hometown, there is one clinic, with two physicians. My desire is to be an immediate source of help so that others can have the opportunity to receive quality care. I also want to be someone who can help a town grow in other areas. I want to begin my own gyms for those who have desired but have never had access to places where they can work out. I also desire to teach classes on beneficial topics, such as proper landing mechanics, and provide workout lessons for younger children so they can enter school activities, and know what proper form they need to use to run or lift weights. I want to do more than just assist a person in their rehabilitation process, even though it is still an extremely beneficial resource. Using my platform as a physical therapist will allow me to accomplish these dreams.

One of my favorite quotes that I live by is, “Success has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It’s what you do for others.” Ever since I was little my dream has always been to become a successful basketball player. However, as I have grown older, I have realized that I want to help others. I can accomplish this by becoming a physical therapist. This has become my inspiration. Growing up, I would spend all my hours outside shooting and dribbling, trying to perfect my basketball game. All I was concerned about was winning my games, so I would spend all my free time practicing. Basketball was everything to me, until I did not have it anymore. My freshman year of high school, I partially tore my ACL during practice. I was absolutely devastated. When I went to a physical therapist for rehab and he helped me tremendously. He reassured me that everything was going to be alright and if I worked hard enough, my knee would get stronger than it was before I hurt it. Without him, I don’t think I would have been able to play basketball successfully again. After this experience I realized that basketball won’t be there forever, so I would need an occupation that can help me and will always be there for me. I then realized that I wanted to be a physical therapist. I wanted to help people and be there for them like my physical therapist was for me. So, that became my inspiration and goal. My sophomore year, I wrote down that I wanted to get accepted to a prestigious college that had a great physical therapy program. I looked at the paper everyday. I took difficult classes, such as anatomy and physiology, to prepare myself for college. Despite the hard classes, papers of homework, and hundred question tests, I fell more in love with physical therapy. I have already used my knowledge to help others. During family events, I have lines of family members who are in need of assistance, so I help them. I love seeing their problems being solved and it takes me back to my freshman year, a time that seemed like it was the end of the world when, really, it was the beginning of my future.

This summer, my sister and I travelled to Salt Lake City to visit family. I have a huge fear of heights, so, naturally, I was terrified about the trip. However, I knew how much I would enjoy seeing my family because I had not seen them in so long and this was the only opportunity for me to see them. I was bold and faced my fears of flying and heights and had a great time in Utah.