美国言语治疗(Speech Therapy)专业申请Essay范文：

While my friends are off vacationing, I have other plans for the summer.As someone who sees life as one long learning experience, I believe themost sensible and exciting way I could spend my summer would be byattending Northern Arizona University. This would give me the opportunityto seek my master 's degree and maintain my position as a speech therapistduring the school year.My background is as diverse as the state I call home. I lived for sevenyears in the deep south of rural Alabama, where life was very laid-back.Living in Alabama gave me a caring and appreciative outlook on life whichwould enhance my personality. Those formative years, especially when viewedin contrast with my time in Florida, have given me well-rounded perspectiveon the world. I am a blend of two opposing lifestyles, and my thoughts, ideas and actions reflect this blend.As someone who appreciates geographical diversity, NAU ' s location appealsto me immensely. Having lived at sea level in Florida for a long time, Ilook forward to the elevated timberland scenery of Pines and Aspens surrounding Flagstaff.My interest in speech therapy stems from my interest in people. I am a"people" person -- I have always enjoyed interacting with my peers andsupervisors both in and out of the educational environment. Because of mystrong desire to help others as much as I possibly can, I have looked intovarious ways I could better serve the speech impaired.This is exemplified through my diverse volunteer experiences within thefield. Following graduation from high school, I began volunteering on aweekly basis at Morton Plant Hospital. I observed group and individualtherapies such as swallowing, traumatic brain injury and several othertherapy techniques ranging from childhood through geriatrics.While attending University of South Florida in Tampa, I volunteered on aweekly basis with Dr. Carolyn Ford, a professor of Speech Pathology. My duties included creating and maintaining a research database which housedpertinent participant information. Through this experience I became morefascinated with the many language disorders in children, and I realiz edthis was an area I wanted to study further. While attending USF, I alsoper formed over 150 hours of volunteer work at Deer Park Elementary School.The interaction between the speech pathologist and her students wasimpressive; it was then I realized I would like to work in such a setting.Today, I work as a Speech Therapist for the Pasco County School District atBayonet Point Middle School. My responsibilities include co-teaching threelanguage arts classes for the Language Learning Delayed. Additionally, Iwork with the Educable Mentally Handicapped population through co-teach anditinerant therapy. I also perform pull-out therapy for voice, fluency, andarticulation. I am responsible for all Individual Education Plans forSpeech-Language students. I organize and perform seventh grade mandatoryhearing screenings and referrals, as well as screening and evaluating allspeech-language impaired students.Through NAU ’ s program, I hope to apply the creative and innovativestrategies of my clinical experience to the public school setting.Implementing these strategies will be crucial in getting our students onequal footing, since I believe that cookie cutter programs are no longersufficient to address America 's diverse population. Indeed, the order israpidly changing. NAU ’ s emphasis on the communicative and learning needsof a culturally and linguistically diverse region would greatly supplementmy knowledge on how to identify and implement strategies to enhance andassist this growing population.In summation, I am a good match for NAU because I am a self-motivated, caring person who wants to further my knowledge so that I may enable mystudents to be the best that they can be.