Lindsey Gidel

Kinesiology 150
Dr. Glover
Reflection Paper

Attending the three different presentations over Kinesiology related internships helped

shape my thinking towards a future profession in multiple ways. The three presentations I

attended included: Carissa Berger on Physical Therapy/ Fitness, Erik Berkowitz on Physical

Therapy, and Rachel Drees on Athletic Training. Each intern had different experiences and

somewhat similar views on how it went. None of the presentations we hard to follow or not

interesting, but two did catch my attention more so than the other.

Carissa Berger started off first explaining her internship at the MedX center in Colorado.

As she explained the setting of her 3 month internship to be a quality facility and 8,000 square

foot fitness center, the idea of having a future in this type of area sounded very appealing. Once

Carissa explained the jobs she had as an intern, it helped me picture myself in the same position.

Providing supervision for the Physical Therapists, developing exercise prescriptions, and

assisting the Physical Therapists sounded to be very helpful in her knowledge of the profession.

Thinking towards my idea of being a Physical Therapist, this internship gave me more ideas of

what it will actually be like. The hands on experience Carissa took part in proved how helpful

each step was to gain the skills needed to move forward. Also, hearing about the weekly quizzes

the PTs gave her seemed very helpful in remember what she will need to do once on her own. I

can easily say that Carissas presentation gave me a better understanding of what the Physical

Therapy profession will be like, and what steps to take to get there. The information given has

helped me more along the lines of this being the field I want to go into.
 Going more along the lines of just Physical Therapy in a more local setting was Erik

Berkowitz. He completed his internship at Stone Hill Rehabilitation here in Dubuque. I was

most fond of Eriks presentation because of the setting he was in and the type of work he was

doing. The everyday walk through he explained was more what I expected in this field. Initial

evaluation, care plan, therapy with documented progress, and discharge when completion of

therapy or no progress described as a regular session. This was good news to me and bettered

my thinking towards becoming a Physical Therapist since it was just what I had planned on

being the routine.

As Rachel Drees went over her Athletic Training internship I didnt have as much interest

in the field as I thought. Her 3 months or so spent with the Stanford football and wrestling team

was more involving weights and exercise and her ability to do them as well. When she first

explained how she would have to excel in each exercise along with have a keen eye to see

multiple movements from certain angles, I took a step back to realize the amount of personal

athletic training that would need to take place, more than an understanding of what is happening

with the body while completing each movement. Rachels presentation on her Athletic Training

internship gave me just enough information to change my thinking on my idea of the career. I

now know more on what fields sound the most interesting and which will best fit my hopes for

the future.

As a whole, each presentation helped me learn more about the professions and which

interest me more. Physical Therapy definitely fits my idea for future plans and both Carissa and

Eriks internships sound like a great experience to look forward to when it comes time to

participate in one. Im glad I had the chance to hear what all three of the interns had to say, and

now know what I need to do in order to have a similar experience.