Students and faculty from the Doctor of Physical Therapy program helped organize and participated in this inaugural event.
Elon Doctor of Physical Therapy students and faculty attended, participated in and organized the first North Carolina Student Physical Therapy Conclave.
Kylee Pobocik and Lauren Graham from the DPT Class of 2019 were integral parts in organizing the day-long inaugural event in which multiple speakers presented educational sessions in different areas of physical therapy practice. More than 30 Elon DPT students traveled to the event in Durham, N.C., where more than 300 students from 21 physical therapy and physical therapy assistant programs across the state were represented.
Students had the opportunity to network and meet with the Board of the North Carolina Physical Therapy Association (NCPTA), including the board’s vice president, Mary Kay Hannah, who is also an assistant professor at Elon in the DPT program.
Pobocik is the NCPTA Student Special Interest Group vice chair and was in charge of the event budget and collaborated closely with the Project Committee to plan and execute this event. “This event was a huge success because of the involvement of the students of NC,” Pobocik said. “It was amazing to see the NC PT fam come together for this event!”
Graham was part of the Planning Committee for the event and worked closely with several students from the PT department at Wingate University. “The turn-out for NC Student Conclave was so inspiring,” Graham said. “With all North Carolina PT and PTA Programs being represented, I was able to interact with so many different students with various interests. Overall, the conclave exceeded my expectations. The conclave was by far the best experience of PT school yet. I’m so energized for the future and will cherish all the new connections moving forward.”
The day culminated in a fun and silly Oxford-Style Debate pitting Elon Assistant Professor Melissa Scales, as the team leader representing the benefits of physical therapists becoming “specialist” practitioners, against a team debating the pros of physical therapists remaining “generalists.”
Scales is a pediatric physical therapy specialist and debated with a team that included Zach Long, a sports physical therapy-certified specialist and creator of thebarbellphysio.com, and Jeff Hoder, a neurological physical therapy specialist and professor at Duke University’s DPT program. Scales wore a full Wonder Woman costume and dropped an imaginary microphone to help the Specialist team win via audience cheers. The students had glow sticks, loud voices and supported the specialists to victory.
During the social hour following the main event, DPT student Kahli Castagnera, who also was part of a Student Community Service Project Committee that made cards for kids to be donated to a local hospital, and Scales were interviewed by Jimmy McKay, a physical therapist and host of the podcast, PTPintcast, with the episode to air soon wherever you get your podcasts. http://www.ptpintcast.com/
Elon’s DPT students are engaged leaders and advocates for the profession of physical therapy, with these students representing the university across the county, the state, the nation and the world.