Kaleigh Walsh ’23

Why UNE

I truly love the location of UNE and it really feels like a community here. It's not too big of a school, but not too small. I feel like everyone sort of knows everyone, which I really appreciate. Because of the tight knit community, everyone here cares and looks out for each other. The professors take time to know you and create a nice learning environment. [UNE’s faculty and staff] are always pushing you to the best of your abilities.

I chose to attend UNE because of the Health, Wellness, and Occupational Studies program and the fact that I could go on the pre-Occupational Therapy (OT) track. [UNE] has a grad school, so I thought that was nice because I could just stay here and go to grad school.

We do a lot of hands-on [learning], like going out in the community and helping, which gives a different perspective than most schools, which I really love. We go out into the community and practice various assistive technology examples that we learn about in class.

Experiential Education

[The Assistive Technology specialization] is offered through UNE’s HWOS program. As an aspiring occupational therapist, I would definitely like to pursue assistive technology [in my studies].

Right now, I'm taking the course Assistive Technology in Schools. We have learned how assistive technology helps maximize the success of children in school and the importance of interprofessional collaboration in the school systems with related specialists in OT, physical therapy and speech language pathology. We have visited a classroom at an elementary school to observe how a student uses their assistive technology devices throughout the school day.

Through hands-on experience in the field, I’m able to understand a little bit deeper what certain clients will need in terms of assistive technology. I think it will help me be a better occupational therapist.