We Say Goodbye to Our Fabulous Intern
Speech and Hearing Science senior Liz Pelletier made her mark on the Office of Student Affairs and Office of Advancement as an intern for the 2010-2011 academic year. She was involved in program development, promotion, marketing, and communication for a variety of events, including Homecoming, the Alumni Speaker Series, and Mom's Day. She created a student host program for the AHS Distinguished Alumni and Scharper Award program, in which each award recipient had two student hosts. Working with Assistant Dean for Student Affairs Renique Kersh and Assistant Dean of Advancement Sara Kelley, Liz also helped to coordinate two new events for the spring, a "Salute to Seniors" to recognize our graduating students and an "AHS Summer Kick-Off" event for all AHS students.
Liz has accepted admission to the Speech-Language Pathology master's program at the University of Nebraska, but she is delaying her enrollment for a year in order to pursue an outstanding opportunity with the national chapter of her sorority, Alpha Omicron Pi. She will spend the next year traveling to chapters throughout the United States and Canada as an educational leadership consultant, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each and producing a report with recommendations and resources.
Liz hopes to work with children with disabilities after completing her master's degree in Speech-Language Pathology. Eventually, she would like to pursue doctoral studies and become involved with higher education. Under the mentorship of Dr. Cynthia Johnson and Dr. Julie Hengst, Liz completed a research thesis on children's literacy and writing abilities that was a case study of a child with autism. "I really enjoyed working on that and learning about how research is so applicable to clinical practice," she said. As the former president of Student Alumni Ambassadors, Liz became aware of the importance of fostering students' connections to their university, and she hopes to do that as a college professor. She also has been a board member of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association.
Liz believes the University of Illinois and the College of Applied Health Sciences offer many opportunities to become involved. "If I were passing out advice," she said, "I would say, ‘Don't say no.' Take advantage of all that's out there. I'm really going to miss that."