Travelin' continued...

Short term SLP job opportunities overseas (list from the ASHA website):
Nonprofit Groups With An International Focus

These nonprofit organizations focus on issues of global concern. Many offer professional exchange and/or volunteer opportunities abroad.

AboutFace International
“To provide information and emotional support to parents of children born with facial differences. Recognized by the Cleft Palate Foundation of the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association as the leading support organization for individuals and families whose

My travelin' shoes...

It’s when I have long breaks, like this Thanksgiving break, that I really miss traveling and living overseas.  I spent a good chunk of a decade living and traveling overseas, as well as spent 3 years of my childhood living in another country.  I often dream about places I’d still like to visit and when I have time (and more importantly the money… poor grad student here!!) I am going to start exploring again.  I may never have an opportunity to live overseas again, but my travelin’ shoes will never be completely put away.  

Holy crap, I'm in grad school!!

I had a moment today while studying for my artic/phono impairments mid-term in the library... it suddenly hit me that I was actually in grad school.  I am in grad school, working towards my Master's degree in SLP... how the heck did that happen?!!

If you had asked me a couple of years ago if I would ever go for a master's degree in something... anything... I would have looked at you like you were crazy.  I had a degree and it allowed me to join the Peace Corps as well as teach English in South Korea.  For a long time I didn't want to go back to school... and to be honest, for a long time I felt that there was no way I could even get into grad school with my dismal 1st undergrad gpa.  I felt kinda "stuck".  As soon as I looked into SLP at a friend's suggestion, I became unstuck and nothing was going to stop me from becoming an SLP.   

   

I'm so happy that I didn't let that first undergrad gpa stop me from pursuing a post-bacc in communicative disorders and then applying to grad school.  I'm so glad that I don't let my age hold me back.  I am grateful for every twist and turn I have taken to get here.  I'm so thankful to be in grad school and to be working on this next step towards becoming an SLP.  It's been a long crazy journey to discovering my passion for speech-language pathology and I'm indebted to that friend who once said "why not speech therapy?".  

About Me...

I'm 38 years old and I've just started graduate school for speech-language pathology.  I found out about my love for SLP in a very roundabout way.

I started off at college, way back in 1992 as a pre-med major and ended up changing my major 6 times before dropping out of school.  I dropped out with a 2.2 gpa and no idea what I wanted to do with my life.  I finally returned to (a different) school, still with no idea what I wanted to do with my life but decided that I needed to graduate from college.  I ended up graduating with a history degree and maintained over a 3.5 every semester which brought my overall gpa up to a 2.74.  Not great, but I graduated.

My degree allowed me to join the Peace Corps twice (Morocco and Tanzania) as well as allowed me to teach English in South Korea for 5 years and travel to other countries during holidays.  It was in my final year in South Korea that I decided that I needed to return to school to find a career.  A friend suggested that I look into SLP, I researched it and I was hooked.  I returned to school Feb. of 2010 and was enrolled at Utah State University's online 2nd bachelor's in communicative disorders and deaf education for that following Fall.  I. Loved. It.  I knew I had finally found the perfect fit.

I ended up kicking ass at USU and graduated with a 3.94 gpa.  I knew I had to really focus at USU because I had an undergrad gpa that would be looked down on by grad schools.  I applied to 3 schools, was rejected from 2 and was accepted to one.  All it takes is one.  :)

So here I am at Eastern Michigan University and I don't think I could have picked a better fit for me.