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Graduate Student Spotlight Brittany [SPRING2021]

Graduate Student Spotlight- Brittany 

I am happy to be posting our FIRST Student Spotlight. She has a very unique background that led her to graduate school in SLP!! 

Learn more about Brittany below. 




Hello everyone! My name is Brittany Russell. I am a first year graduate student in JMU's SLP program. Before attending JMU, I was a first-generation student at Virginia Tech. My path to grad school was "non-traditional" in the sense that I did not major in CSD in my undergrad studies. Instead, I majored in Human Development and minored in Language Sciences, Disability Studies and Psychology. I gave up my summers to take speech prerequisite courses at Longwood University, which was hard, but definitely paid off in the long run! I also graduated from Virginia Tech a year early, proving to be even more challenging when taking multiple courses of studies! My time at Virginia Tech was rigorous, but great. It allowed me internships opportunities working with SLPs and with individuals with autism spectrum disorder. I developed close relationships with my professors, many of whom I feel I owe the honor to of reaching my goal of attending grad school (always take the time to get to know and appreciate your professors!). As a first generation college student who grew up and lived in a small, rural town and knew almost nothing about what to expect in the college world as a freshman and beyond, I am so proud of where I am today. Everything will fall into place as it should be, and you should never give up! All your hard work will pay off and will not go unnoticed. Now as a future clinician, I hope to work with pediatric populations with ASD or adults with neurogenic disorders. And remember, as cheesy as it sounds, you can do anything you put your mind to!
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