Rebecca is from Arlington, VA and is currently 26 years old. She earned her undergraduate degree at James Madison University in 2012 and then came straight over to Columbia to complete her Masters at USC. After taking some time to work as a full-time athletic trainer, she is now returning to school to begin her doctoral work at USC. In addition to being an athletic trainer, she is a nationally and state registered Emergency Medical Technician and she also holds her NASM Corrective Exercise Specialist certification. We sat down with Rebecca and asked her some questions on her journey from student, to professional, and now back to student. We are privileged to have Rebecca as part of the gamecock family, and we hope you enjoy this insight from her perspective! Enjoy!
What was your experience like in graduate school, and what were your professional goals when graduating? I enjoyed my experience in graduate school, especially my second year. It definitely challenged my time management skills, but I had the opportunity to work with many great people and those connections ultimately got me my first job after graduating and the position I have now. My first year I was assigned the USC Sports Medicine clinic where I mainly worked with Dr. Guy, Dr. Mazoue and Dr. Pollack. I also did outreach coverage at Brookland Cayce High School and Swansea High School. My second year I was the athletic trainer for the USC Sand Volleyball team (now Beach Volleyball) which was their first season as a sport here. My research project was Physician Perspectives of Certified Athletic Trainers. I wanted to know how familiar physicians from a variety of practices and specialties were with the scope of an athletic trainer and how competent they believed athletic trainers are at performing each of those skills as outlined in the Role Delineation Study. My professional goals when graduating were to obtain a job in the non-traditional setting, preferably working with the military or tactical athletes. At that time I was unsure if or when I wanted to return to school to pursue my PhD.
What was your experience like getting job after grad school; what was your first job? It was stressful! I did not have a position lined up prior to graduating, so I continued to work summer camps and any PRN work I could find until I obtained a job. I was fortunate enough to obtain a position as one of the outreach athletic trainers at Drayer Physical Therapy here in Columbia, SC. I was assigned to W.J. Keenan High School as their head athletic trainer and I also covered the Columbia City Ballet.
In what ways do you feel that the master’s program prepared you for the future, or helped you become a confident clinician? The variety of experiences I had during the master’s program definitely helped me become a more confident clinician because I worked in such a variety of clinical sites. Working in the sports medicine clinic taught me a lot about working with different patient populations, understanding different clinic and surgical procedures, as well as how to better develop the athletic trainer-physician relationship that is so important for what we do. When I worked with Sand Volleyball I was the first athletic trainer for that site, so I was able to start from scratch and help build the foundation for the GAs that would follow. USC has many great resources for students and professionals to develop their knowledge and skills. Take advantage of them!
What influenced your decision to return to school? I had debated returning to school for a while, but I wanted to gain more experience working somewhere full time for at least a year before doing so. I am very passionate about athletic training and love working with students, so I eventually would like to work in an athletic training program teaching. I also enjoy research and being able to contribute to the knowledge base. CAATE’s decision to switch to entry-level master’s programs for athletic training also influenced my decision as a PhD will be necessary to teach at the graduate level.
Why did you choose to attend USC for your PhD? USC has the top Exercise Science program in the country and I could not have chosen better faculty to surround myself with. I met with multiple faculty members about my goals and research interests before making my final decision, so I knew USC would be a good fit. It worked out perfectly that Dr. Yeargin was looking for a doctoral student to fill the BrainScope position this year so I was able to secure funding to start classes. This is an exciting time for our athletic training program and I’m enjoying being a part of it again.
As a PhD student, what type of work are you taking part in? I currently have a research assistantship in the Exercise Science department through BrainScope as the Study Coordinator for the current concussion study. I do not currently have any teaching responsibilities; however I have begun to mentor undergraduate and graduate students on their research projects. I will eventually transition in to a teaching assistantship to teach in the athletic training program. My research interests include improving prehospital care of medical emergencies in athletics and to develop evidence based primary and secondary prevention strategies for first responders at risk of experiencing medical emergencies while working in the field.
What advice would you give to athletic trainers interested in getting their PhD? Don’t rush in to it and do your research. It is important that the program you are considering will be able to help you reach your professional goals, so know what your interests are and see what research backgrounds the program’s faculty has. Talk to doctoral students in the program or who graduated from the program to see what their experiences have been.
Is there an AT that you would identify as being influential in your career thus far? While there are many that have had a significant impact on my career, I have to mention one of my fellow JMU alum and current doctoral student, Erin Moore. When I was an undergraduate student at JMU she was a graduate assistant working with the volleyball team which I had as one of my clinical sites. She agreed to write me one of my letters of recommendation to get in to the athletic training program and I did! She was an excellent preceptor and it’s great to be able to work with her now as a professional.We would like to thank Rebecca for taking the time to answer our questions and giving some advice to our readers! Keep a lookout for next month's spotlight!
-GSCATA Alumni Committee
