A True Honor

Hopefully I’ve been clear on how grateful I am for all the opportunities that I get to share my experience through various speaking engagements. Whether it’s a large audience or a one on one interaction, each conversation is truly a blessing in my life! I’ve been blessed to speak with groups at schools ranging from elementary to graduate students, hopefully leaving each audience with some information that they find valuable in their journeys. After sharing in so many different venues to a wide range of audiences, I thought I’d pretty much covered the speaking bases. That was until a couple of months ago when I was asked to speak at the hooding ceremony (graduation) celebrating the 2025 Masters of Science in Occupation Therapy from the University of New Hampshire!

Let me first say that I was both honored and surprised by the invitation: Honored because I would be the Keynote of such a momentous occasion for the 40 graduates; and surprised seeing that my academic career, although resulting in a degree, was less than exemplary. So if it wasn’t my impressive transcript, certainly not from UNH, that prompted the invitation, you’re probably wondering why I was asked?

I often write about me experience as a Krempels Brain Injury Center (KBIC) member and the Center is the reason I was behind a microphone on the afternoon of December 13th. We’re incredibly fortunate at KBIC to partner with UNH and several therapeutic majors within the College of Health and Human Services. Along with Krempels amazing staff, it is student interns who provide the amazing programming that KBIC offers members. A good number of these interns come from the Occupational Therapy Department with quite a few being graduate students, who asked me.

Quite a few people who I had told of the event kept asking me if I was getting nervous as the date approached. Honestly, I was surprised that the nerves weren’t to bad. Maybe after speaking to and fielding questions from rooms full of middle and high schoolers for many years my self-consciousness nerves had been well-conditioned. In all seriousness, it wasn’t really that type of nervousness that I felt. If anything, I felt a responsibility to communicate the amazing positive impact I had experienced from Occupational Therapy in my recovery and express my gratitude and admiration for their choosing the field.

I know that I really felt the significance of being asked because I spent a good deal of time in preparation. In fact, I actually wrote some notes down which is something I almost never do. I don’t remember exactly what I said and lost my notes prior to taking podium, but I sure do hope that I communicated how impactful OT has been in my life. At the very least, hopefully the graduates know the chance to positively impact many lives that their career choice will give them going forward. The opportunity to share at the ceremony certainly was an honor and is a good start on their career paths as the experience was a true highlight for this TBI survivor!