Intern Aaron Kerschen- Mid-America Orthopedics (Physical Therapy)

Hi, my name is Aaron. I am a part of the Senior Internship Class at Andale High School, and the career that I am interning for will be physical therapy. I was born in Wichita, Kansas, but grew up just north of Goddard. I was raised by my parents, Denny and Rita Kerschen, and had four siblings, an older brother and sister, and two younger brothers. I had a normal but fun childhood. During the summer, I would swim in my pool and run around the yard chasing my siblings with a garden hose, while wintertime was spent making snowmen and having snowball fights. Faith has always been a big part of my family; we went to mass together every Sunday, and my mom was in charge of my religion class. My mom ran a daycare business out of our home, and my dad was an IT manager at ADT security services.

The first time that I ever thought about making a career out of physical therapy was after my little brother Jak was involved in a car accident. This was during my junior year of high school. He broke his neck and was paralyzed from the chest down. Jak was flown to Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colorado, where he began rehab. On the many times that I drove to visit him, I watched his sessions and sometimes even helped him during his physical therapy. Seeing how these therapists helped give my little brother his life back was what inspired me to choose physical therapy as my career path. The thought of helping people recover from any disabilities or injuries they have sustained was pleasing to me, I have always been a person that reaches out to help people in need.

Being a physical therapist isn’t an easy job. It requires at least three years of schooling, and most programs require a bachelor’s degree. All physical therapists in the United States must have a Doctor of Physical Therapy(DPT) degree and be licensed. Some programs also admit college students into a 6 or 7-year program that allows them to graduate with a bachelor’s degree and a DPT. After graduation, physical therapists could be given extra tests and exams to keep them up to date on all of the new procedures and exercises. The average salary for a physical therapist is around $80,000 per year, obviously with more schooling and a higher degree, the salary will raise accordingly.

I hope to learn many things from this internship class including: more in-depth knowledge about the exact duties and obligations of a physical therapist. I don’t know much about what a physical therapist really does. I’ve gone to physical therapy before, but I wasn’t there all day to see what else is required of a physical therapist. I believe that this internship will help me gain the knowledge that I want to know, as well as learn new things about this career path that may alter or change my view of physical therapy positively or negatively. Either way this class will help me decide if physical therapy is the right career for me.

I believe that I have the necessary skills it takes to become a PT. Physical therapists work with their patients every single day, so they must have a good amount of social skills. My current job requires me to talk and work with hundreds of people every single day, from infants to elderly, so that will help me with communicating with my patients. PT’s must also be hard-working and dedicated, doing everything within their knowledge and power to help their patient make a full recovery from whatever injury or disability they may have.

If, after this internship class, physical therapy is still the career path I would like to pursue, I plan to attend college at either Wichita State University, Emporia State University, Or Newman university. I know that all three of these colleges offer degrees in physical therapy, so the deciding factor will be things such as annual costs, quality of program, location, etc. Participating in this internship class will also help me in finding a job after I graduate, whether it’s applying for a position at Mid-America Orthopedics where I am interning, or using them as a reference for wherever it is that I decide to apply.

Mid-America Orthopedics doesn’t just offer physical therapy. They offer many services such as joint replacement, physiatry, sports medicine, and occupational medicine. They have multiple doctors on hand, Dr. Pat Po, Dr. John Babb, and Dr. Justin Strickland being chief among them. My actual mentor will be physical therapist Nick Biggs. I was lucky and I have known Nick for some time, our families go to the same church, he has helped in teaching my religion classes, and my mom has done daycare for his children. I am very excited for this internship class and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for me and my career.