So why speech language pathology?

 

Upon finishing my Americorps service, I found myself in an impasse where I was unsure about what I wanted for a career and how I would pay my student loans 😅.

One thing that I knew for sure is that I did not want to stop traveling. Traveling has enabled me to discover who I am and what my passions are, and I found an unwavering craving for it. 

At the time, I started applying for jobs while researching career paths for linguists. During my job search, I interviewed for a company specializing in tutoring and extracurricular activities for middle school and high school students. Through that company, I connected with an employer who knew a new speech-language pathologist who shared some information about the field and what they do daily in the education setting. This interaction picked my curiosity about the field and its relation to linguistics. 

After Peace Corps and Americorps, I was apprehensive about becoming a teacher because it did not mesh well with my goals and personality. I wanted to analyze how we learn languages and how we communicate and investigate the things that overlap across different cultures. Upon researching Speech-Language pathology, I was intrigued by the field and the number of settings that I could work in. I am not going to lie; the salary was an attraction as well. I started taking classes at a school in New Mexico as a non degree-seeking student to get a better idea of the career and what I could potentially expect from graduate school. I had a lot of fun in the classes that I completed and decided to apply to the same school for graduate school. Here are some pictures of a project that I completed for anatomy and physiology class. 

So that is my story on how I discover the speech-language pathology field! I will review what exactly speech-language pathology is and what comes next for me in future posts (in French and in English). Stay tuned!!