JMU CSD Undergraduate Advising

Hello everyone! My name is Copelyn Kelly, and I am the CSD Undergraduate Peer Advisor for the 2021-22 school year! I am a double duke and so excited to be back at JMU for my first year in the SLP Master's program! As the Undergraduate Peer Advisor, I am a resource for questions involving the major, graduate school applications, and other CSD-related questions. Below is the email that you can reach me as the peer advisor. I will also be holding office hours, with both in-person and virtual options, and I have listed the days, times, and locations of those below.  Email: csdug@jmu.edu Office Hours: Tuesday/ Thursday: 10-11 AM in HBS 1017 Wednesday: 2-3 PM  (Virtual- on Webex)

Good morning everyone, I hope you have enjoyed learning from our graduate students this past semester and maybe you have a new found appreciation for how different we all truly are.  This week will be the last week I am holding office hours 11:00am-12:00pm on Monday and Tuesday.  Here is a last short blurb about myself, as many of you have heard about what I did at JMU.                                                                   I knew that I wanted to be an SLP when I was 12. My youngest cousin was born bilaterally deaf and received cochlear implants at 11 months. His family decided not to use ASL after he picked up verbal language, but I continued to find all aspects of total communication fascinating. Since then, speech pathology has been my passion; however, in undergrad...

One of our last Graduate Student Spotlights is Ali! Ali gives great advice about choosing a profession that can be helpful to anyone, but especially the underclassmen here.   I entered JMU unsure of the academic path I would need to take to merge my dual passions of caring and advocating for people. I remember talking with a mentor freshman year, verbalizing my dilemma, ultimately unsure of which major I should pursue. She patiently sat with me, sifted through my thoughts, and steered me towards areas that complemented my passions. She works within a school system, and through her connection I was able to observe the SLP from her district. Through this experience I was able to first envision my passions merge as I discovered the profession of speech-language pathology. Specifically, I witnessed the empathy and feverous advocacy required of this SLP to ensure her student’s communication needs were met both inside and outside the classroom. Since, I have been inspired by the demand ...

  Once again we have a Graduate Student Spotlight for Audiology!!! Noelle is a first year AuD student. Hi everyone! My name is Noelle Steele and I am from Pottsville, Pennsylvania. I am a first-year graduate student in JMU’s Doctor of Audiology program. I graduated from Marywood University in May of 2020 with my B.S. in Communication Sciences and Disorders. My journey to graduate school is a bit unique because I finished my undergraduate degree in just three years. I started in a 5-year speech pathology program (3 + 2 program) and decided to opt out of my master’s in speech pathology to pursue audiology instead. During my undergraduate career, I spent my time assisting and teaching in daycares both on campus and at home. This allowed me to work very closely with children and thus, I learned how to quickly build rapport with them. I worked as an early learner instructor for preschool age children at Kumon Math and Reading Center in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, which is an after-scho...

 Good morning!! This week I have notes about office hours. I will not be holding office hours tomorrow (4/13) from 11-12pm due to a doctors appointment, and instead, I will be available on WebEx from 2:30-3:30pm. Come by if you have questions about scheduling or classes. Seniors, this is the last week to come talk about graduate school decisions! I will still be available on Thursday 4/15 from 3:00-4:00pm   Monday 11:00-12:00pm Tuesday 2:30-3:30pm Thursday 3:00-4:00pm 

This week's graduate student spotlight is on Ana! She brings up a great point about applications- Always remember that you are more than just numbers on a test.  Hi everyone! I am from Richmond, VA, attended UVA for undergrad, and majored in Communication Sciences and Disorders there. I was lucky in that I knew I wanted to major in CSD when I got to UVA and luckily grew to love it even more throughout undergrad. I found it really helpful during the summers to try to find shadowing experiences to get a better idea of different settings I might want to work in as well as having some sort of hands-on experience before entering grad school. One of my shadowing experiences was with an SLP in early intervention, just for a week, but I loved it and hope to one day work in early intervention. I am also interested in various other pediatric settings such as hospital outpatient clinics and schools. In applying to grad school, what really drew me to JMU was the amazing reputation it has arou...

  Dear CSD Sophomores,   Earlier this month you received a reminder about the CSD progression standard:  CSD207, CSD208, and CSD209 require a letter grade of C or better  to move on to the upper level CSD coursework. This is a follow-up on this requirement.  Please take some time to reflect on your work and your progress.  Please reach out to your advisors now if you have any concerns about meeting the progression standard.  Remember that the faculty's commitment is to support you toward a successful undergraduate career for your career aspirations, and there are university resources available to you as well (University Career Center  https://www.jmu.edu/career/ ).   Wishing you well!   Undergraduate B.A./B.S. Program in CSD *See office hours and peer advising hours at  http://jmucsdundergraduateadvising.blogspot.com/p/office-hours.html .

Our weekly spotlight for the week is Hannah! Not only did Hannah come from a different university but she is also not from Virginia. She took a gap year and is a first generation college student . Hi everyone! I am Hannah Delgado, a first year graduate student in JMU's SLP program. I am originally from Louisiana, where I completed my undergraduate degree in Speech Language Pathology at Louisiana Tech University. I am also first-generation student! I decided to pursue a gap year before applying to graduate school and am so grateful for the experiences that led me here. After graduating in 2019, I traveled and worked as a Chapter Consultant for Phi Mu Fraternity. This experience exposed me to a variety of individuals and helped me to further my professional skills greatly. I knew I wanted to become an SLP, but a gap year experience solidified that decision and I was able to gather more information about SLP programs across the US. Through this process, I encountered JMU and was quick...

 Weekly Updates 3/29  Juniors Thank you to all of the juniors who attended the information session last week. Below is the recording of my power point and it will also be linked on your blog page. Feel free to stop by my office hours if you have more questions! Seniors  Due to a change in my clinic schedule, I will not be hosting office hours on the Thursdays April 1st and April 22nd. Please come to my office hours on Mondays and Tuesdays those weeks if you need to discuss graduate school.  Scholarship Opportunity  Robin C McKay Memorial Scholarship is for Juniors and applications are due April 5th .  This is not a need-based scholarship but, rather, is awarded to a well-rounded and academically proficient student studying speech-language pathology. Be an undergraduate student in Communication Sciences and Disorders working toward a career in speech-language pathology Be well-rounded and academically proficient Have a minimum GPA in the major of 3.25  ...

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 parti...

  Happy Monday Everyone! **Just a reminder that today is the first Junior Session from 11-12pm and I will not be holding my regular office hours. If you are from another class and need me please email or attend tomorrow! The following are updates and resources for the week: Job Opportunity  Dr. DePaolis shared the following job opportunity potentially for graduating seniors.  Job Announcement: Research Coordinator University of Chicago TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health Director: Dr. Dana Suskind   We are seeking a Research Coordinator to work on a project that aims to create the next iteration of a tool, the Scale of Parent/Provider Expectations And Knowledge (SPEAK), that has been developed and validated at the TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health. The SPEAK is a clinical and research tool that fills a critical, previously unmet need in the early childhood field. Given the pivotal role that parents and caregivers play in shaping young children’s...

Seniors, It's graduate school decision time! Instead of hosting another Senior Session, I will add another hour of office hours each week through April so that there is more time for your individual questions. If you want to ask my opinion about schools, have questions about assistantship applications, or what to base your decision off of come see me. I can answer general questions for multiple people at once or utilize the waiting room for personal questions.  Moving forward I will be available on WebEx @  https://jmu.webex.com/meet/mondsccl  Monday 11:00-12:00pm Tuesdays 11:00-12:00pm Thursdays 3:00-4:00pm In addition to an extra hour each week, I encourage you to re-watch some portions of the Senior Session from the fall(it was recorded and posted on the senior page of the blog!). This can offer insight to what you should consider when picking your graduate school. 

    Dear sophomores,   With registration for Fall of 2021 starting on April 19th, now is a great time to take stock of your hard work in your CSD courses and to plan ahead. As a friendly reminder, the foundation courses - CSD207, CSD208 and CSD209 - require a letter grade of C or better to move on to the upper level CSD coursework. Remember these grades also will be important for the graduate school applications in your future.   Please take this opportunity to evaluate how you are doing in these courses.   If you are doing well, congratulations and keep up the hard work!   If you have any concerns about your current performance (such as one or more C grade across 207, 208, and 209), this is a good time to reflect on the goals for your undergraduate career. You are encouraged to communicate with your instructor(s) and advisor. If you decide that it would be beneficial to explore potential...

This week we get to learn about Becky! Becky is in the Audiology program here at JMU and she has an amazing story.    Hi! My name is Becky and I am a first year AuD student, but I’m also the oldest in the program. I graduated from the University of North Carolina in Greensboro in 2009 with a B.S. in Deaf Education. It was always my intention to go out and get some “real world” experience before entering a graduate program. After 5 years as a teacher for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, I decided to pursue graduate school. I applied to JMU’s audiology program and was wait listed and ultimately didn’t get in. I continued teaching students with multiple disabilities for a few more years and that further fueled my desire to pursue audiology because I saw many kids whose hearing and language development were viewed as minor issues compared to their other disabilities, but as soon as they were given accessible language through amplification and/or manual communication, their live...

  Our next student spotlight is for Rebekah! She is not only a Double Duke, but also a first generation college student. Hi everybody! My name is Rebekah Jones. I am a first year graduate student in JMU's SLP program. I completed my undergrad here as well, and I am a first-generation student! I guess you could say I had a more "traditional" route from undergrad to grad school, but I finished undergrad in three years which is definitely untraditional. It was difficult to start taking sophomore-level classes as a freshman (and first-gen student who had no clue what she was doing), but I don't regret that decision even though it made an already challenging major slightly more challenging. In undergrad, I was in the honors college and completed a thesis in the area of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and sensory integration therapy, which sparked my interest in my master's thesis that I am currently working on (ASD and pragmatics!). I loved my time here in undergrad an...

 Hello Juniors!! I have scheduled two information sessions to discuss general advising/scheduling help and early information on graduate school applications . I will have a short presentation and then will open up the floor to you all. I encourage you to come prepared as I will be happy to answer any and all questions! While the presentation will be the same, you are welcome to attend both sessions.  Junior Session 3/22 https://jmu.webex.com/jmu/j.php?MTID=m9f6e459335d6ee947f7ed8e44ef829b6 Monday, Mar 22, 2021 11:00 am | 1 hour  Meeting number: 120 006 4322 Password: w4CJdx3jPN3 (94253935 from phones) Junior Session 3/25 https://jmu.webex.com/jmu/j.php?MTID=m519409c0c5b396c6bce7af83db9f1fcf Thursday, Mar 25, 2021 4:00 pm  Meeting number: 120 569 0753 Password: hAJpwTmc588 (42579862 from phones)

  This week our spotlight is on Jess! It's always great to hear about our Double Dukes, but Jess came from PA, and you'll want to hear from students that had a different undergraduate experience than you. That's the whole purpose of this series!! I grew up in State college PA and attended Penn State University for undergrad. Having a career counselor dad was very helpful in figuring out my passions in life and a career that fits me! I also learned a lot by observing various SLPs throughout undergrad which really confirmed my decision on a career path. I loved knowing that I could work in different settings with so many different kinds of people. I’ve always enjoyed working and interacting with individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities and participated in many experiences involving this population (best buddies, life and job coach, special olympics volunteer, friend of people with IDD). Knowing that I can choose a setting where I can work with individua...

  Below is a walkthrough of the NEW template for CSD scheduling. Download the file so that you can plan the rest of your classes and keep track of requirements. You can find this video and file linked on the Peer Advisor Page as well as the pinned post on the Home page. Contact me if you have any questions!! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_MNjEncvqPp--X4sQ2XLw5Stb2Z4R3Kk/view?usp=sharing 

The next Graduate Student Spotlight is Nico! Nico has a very unique story, written below, that let him to JMU. Some people take a gap year while Nico left school for many years. Hey all! My name is Nico and it took me a while to figure out what I was doing. I was shuffled along from grade school to high school to college as passively as a jellyfish in the current, ultimately getting my degree in anthropology in 2011. The whole time I measured my success, my self-worth, in GPA. As a result, all my decisions were based on taking the path of least resistance in order to get that piece of paper that I truly thought would grant fulfillment. This single-minded perspective caught up to me in the end as I left my final exam, stopped dead in my tracks and panicked as I realized I no longer knew where I was walking to. Maybe other people would have had a eureka moment at that point, but I instead immediately jumped at the only thing that made me feel safe, more classes. I enrolled in EMT school...

This week's Graduate Student Spotlight is Lara! Lara is the first Audiology student to share about her background and she was really excited to do so!!  Hello friends! I am current second year audiology student. Audiology is a beautiful field which focuses on caring for patients with hearing and balance disorders. I felt called to become a pediatric audiologist after encountering the reality that 90% of deaf children have parents with no history of hearing loss. What a heart breaking and confusing circumstance for these parents. I knew this was where I was needed, so here I am! Here is my story: During my time at the University of Florida, Go Gators, I majored in psychology and I gravitated toward experiences that allowed me to help students build confidence in themselves through periods of rapid change and uncertainty. I served as an Orientation Leader and Panhellenic Counsellor to work with students in periods of uncertainty and indecisiveness. I assumed that my passion for inv...