Kelly Boyer, UAB MSOT Class of 2020
During my undergraduate college experience I worked for the university outdoor center and guided raft trips on the Nantahala River. Seven of us would wade into the chilly water, pile in the raft, and push away from the shore, letting the water carry us downstream.
We each had a paddle to navigate obstacles in the river, and we wore life jackets to keep us afloat if we fell out of or flipped the raft. Honestly, I was not the most skilled raft guide, and I often seemed to navigate right into the rocks instead of around them.
The second semester as a UAB Occupational Therapy student has felt a lot like a trip down the Nantahala with 62 of my closest friends.
We stepped into the cold water skittishly at the beginning of the semester, hopped in the raft, and submitted to the mercy of the river. There have been rocks and rapids, bumps and splashes, but also calm waters where we could enjoy the view.
Most memorably in this constant forward flow, we have been together.
As a guide, I noticed that people feared the splashes of the cold water and bumping into rocks, yet when they experienced these things, it usually resulted in them turning to their raftmates with a shriek followed by laughter.
Like splashes and bumps, this semester has challenged and surprised us. We hurtled through the rapids of heavy weeks and were splashed by assignments (looking at you first pediatrics observation note), but in the end we stayed afloat and learned a lot from the experience.
In all of it, we have turned to one another in both vulnerability and in celebration, and we have grown closer and stronger as a result.
A mark of our cohort is teamwork and collaboration, and we have paddled together to achieve our goals. Steering the raft is simply too big a task to handle alone. Despite paddling together with all our might, we have occasionally gotten hung upon a rock. Humorously, when stuck on a rock, two of the ways to dislodge the raft are to have everyone bounce up and down on their seat or to wave down another raft to ram you like a bumper car and knock the raft free. I love that these solutions seem so silly. At times in the semester when I felt stuck and overwhelmed, goofing off with friends (whether practicing headstands in the classroom or imagining absurd hypotheticals) would usually set me back on the right track.
All in all, spring semester has been a fun and wild ride. We have begun to see more clearly how our classes intertwine and have learned some concrete skills that we will use as occupational therapists. We took about 45 quizzes during the semester and kept track of a handful of different group projects. We engaged in the community through service days with community partners, brain awareness week, and respite care through Aaron’s staff. We have shown pride in our profession through welcoming potential students at interview day and attending the American Occupational Therapy Association conference in New Orleans.
The river is continuing to carry us onward toward Level 1A fieldwork and then to summer classes. I am excited for the unknown ahead, am thankful for my life jacket, and most of all, am glad to be bumping along with 62 amazing people heading the same way.