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Graduate Student Spotlight- Rylie [SPRING2021]

This week we have another Double Duke! Rylie shares her interests in the SLP field and how she found this career. She reminds us that the realm of speech-language pathology is much more than what meets the eye!!



Hello! My name is Rylie Smith and am a double duke! In undergrad I originally started out as a nursing major but quickly decided that was not the field for me. This decision came with a lot of confusion, as I did not know what I wanted a career in. I eventually came to know about speech-language pathology when my mom mentioned it to me. At first, I was hesitant to look into the field because I thought all SLPs did was treat articulation (the initial reaction of most people). I eventually decided to look into the field and found that there is so much that SLPs do! What really sparked my interest was adult language and cognition, specifically in veterans with aphasia and TBI. After graduate school, I hope to work with these individuals to give them a way to communicate and participate in life to the fullest extent possible (they are so deserving after what they have done to protect our country)! My advice is to keep an open mind and really dive into the field of speech-language pathology to find where your true passion lies. When you find what sparks your interest, learning will become fun and interesting!

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