Inter Myka Dalton- TRUE Physical Therapy

Hi my name is Myka Dalton.

I attend Andale High school, and also live in Andale. I am 17 years old now a senior in high school trying to figure out what I want to be in life. For as long as I can remember I always was really interested in becoming something in the medical field. Both of my parents work in the medical field, my mom works in the radiology department and my dad is a sonographer. I used to think I wanted to be a nurse, but then I realized it probably wasn’t something I would enjoy. So that’s why I’ve decided to intern at TRUE Physical Therapy and look into becoming a physical therapist. I also think nutrition is something I’m really interested in so I will also be looking into interning a dietitian or nutritionist.

Other reasons I have chosen to spend my internship learning about a physical therapist career is because I really like to help people. With physical therapy you can work with all different types of people, from newborn to the oldest age and work to help them regain the ability to live a healthy life. I think I’m a good people person so I really like to meet new people and have a job that gives you the opportunity to get to know that person and help reach them to a certain goal of health.

I’ve also always been interested in the way nutrition works and how eating habits can affect the body. nutritionists offer you personal medical advice that help in making your health better. They work in many different settings such as: hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, doctors office, schools and more. They may also work with people struggling with eating disorders or certain people with medical diseases such as diabetes or cancer. To me, I take a lot of interest in a career as a nutritionist, that has a variety of options of different people to help and places they're needed.

I hope to learn a lot of different things at my internship, I want to know what the daily tasks of a nutritionist and physical therapist are. I want to know they knowledge they need to have for the career to answer many questions for people and know exactly what plan to make for a person. I’d like to know how much science and math is required for both the careers. I also am nervous to start my internship mostly because it's a big step of maturity. Growing up has always scared me so it’s weird to be going and shadowing people that we might become that profession someday. There's also a lot of responsibility a person needs to have to do an internship and I hope to do my very best. But I am mainly more excited than nervous because I really do want to figure out what I want to be to make college and life planning easier.

I mentioned before how I had always took interest in the medical field, because of that matter I decided to take a CNA course my junior year. I am CNA and CPR certified. I have had experience working with older people in the nursing home and I really enjoyed it. I loved to help them, talk to them and take care of them, because usually they appreciated it and it made you feel like you did something good for someone.

As a physical therapist you need to get your DPT (Doctor of Physical Therapy) degree, that takes at least three years to complete. Then will need to pass a Physical Therapy Examination and are required to have at least a bachelor's degree. There are many classes involved in getting the degree especially science classes, but I believe with a lot of determination and hard work a person can accomplish a lot. With nutritionist you’re required to have at least a 4-year bachelor's degree studying lots of science like anatomy, physiology, and chemistry. You take courses in English to better communication skills. Also take courses in food and nutrition to learn about the way it can affect the body and different types of diseases from food. So mainly for both careers, you need to be prepared to take lots of science courses.

I haven’t fully decided on my plan for college yet, but I am looking at Kansas State University if I do want to become a Nutritionist. Kansas State University is a college for lots of engineering based jobs, but I have met a nutritionist who graduated from the college and really enjoyed it. Also on the TRUE Physical Therapy website bios, there are two physical therapists that went to Kansas State and studied Kinesiology before enrolling in their other colleges. There are other colleges I have in mind like Wichita State University or Pittsburg State University, but I do really want to get away from home and learn how to be more independent. My brother, who is now an engineer, graduated from Kansas State and really enjoyed it so I’ve really considered it because of the good things I’ve heard.   

The place I will be interning at is in Wichita at TRUE Physical Therapy, their website is filled with lots of information about their business. I still don’t know where I’ll be interning at for a nutritionist, but I can't wait to find out. At TRUE Physical Therapy they work with all different types of injuries like: traumatic, sports, chronic pain and more. Their team of workers have a very experienced background and I’m excited to meet them. It seems like a very positive environment for workers and patients, I’m happy I’ll get to experience my internship at True Physical Therapy.