OT school memories

It is HOT outside! With the temps up in the 100's, I've been trying to stay cool inside. I've been working on some things for our OT school graduation. We're having a pinning ceremony before our actual graduation, and I'm creating a slideshow of pictures from the past three years of OT school. Here are a few of my favorites to bring back some good (and some crazy) memories.

Our first day as second year students in May of 2006 - doing a team building activity
Me & Kelly at the ARC camp dance in July 2007
Tessa, Mandy, Joelle, Cassie, Kelly, Kathie, and me at the ARC camp in July 2007 - We were the night crew, spending the night with the campers and making sure they had everything they needed and were safe.
Brandi, Lindsey, Kelly, and me doing a presentation in Clinical Conditions our first year of OT school.
Kelly, Lindsey, me and Missy our first year of OT school participating in a visual learning exercise involving yarn... I'm not sure WHAT exactly we were learning!
Jeanie, Kayla, and Whitney dressed up for some class presentation - I'm not sure why, but I love this picture because it captures their personalities exactly!
Dr. George, Joelle, and me and the AOTA conference in St. Louis in April 2007
Tasha, me, Dr. George, Missy, Kayla, Joelle, and Kera at the AOTA conference in St. Louis in April 2007
Sarah and me on the last day of classes in December 2007
Tessa, Kelly, me, Joelle, and Randi at our graduation party when we received our bachelors degrees in December 2006

It's been a long road to graduation. I am so thankful for some of the friends I made along the way and look forward to being colleagues with them in the small world of occupational therapy. We had great professors who believed in us, had patience with us when things were difficult, grace on us when life situations were out of our control, inspired confidence in our therapeutic abilities, and eventually took us from students to professionals. I am eternally grateful for all of their hard work in getting us to this point. Some of them taught me lessons I will never forget - ALWAYS remembering to ask if the clients has "any more motion" when you are taking goniometric measurements (I think I still do that every time!), ALWAYS putting the wheel locks on before transferring someone in a wheelchair, and that sometimes just listening and being a friend is the best thing you can do as a therapist. They demanded excellence and by doing so, created excellent therapists. I am anxious to start my new job and get out into the real world, but at the same time, it is bittersweet to leave the comfort of the education community. But you know what? We're ready. We've worked hard to get here. We put in six months of paying-your-dues time during clinical internships. We've studied hard for our NBCOT exam. And now... it's time to sink or swim!