Submitted Photo
Pictured from left to right: Tana Downs, Jessie Nesterenko, Lyndi Jensen, Raesha Vanderhoff, and Alona Wilkerson participated in highway clean up as part of OTA community service.
By Abrielle Santee
Casper College’s Occupational Therapy Assistant Club prepares students for future careers in the OTA field. Because occupational therapists work in such a wide array of settings, community outreach is crucial for OTA students to develop their skills and find their niche. The OTA club allows students to build leadership skills, grow a social network, and practice real-world problem-solving skills.
To help support students, the OTA club provides leadership opportunities. Each member has responsibilities within the club.
Lyndi Jensen, a second year OTA student and OTA club member explained, “Every member of the club has a role to help it run effectively.”
In addition to an officer team club members are put in charge of hosting fundraisers, voting fÅor projects, participating in mentor programs, and staying active in college-hosted events. Club leaders encourage members to identify opportunities to make a difference.
Additionally, community partners allow students to get a better feel for clinical sites before they enter fieldwork rotations. Club members get to build connections with people already working in their career field while also getting used to communicating with the patients they will eventually see.
“It (the club) helps us have a foundation so once we are graduated we have connections with people. We have good relationships with them, and we’ve had positive interactions with them so we’re set up for more success leaving the program,” said Jensen.
Strong relationships can provide job opportunities and future internships. The OTA club takes students to the American Occupational Therapy Association national conference. At the conference, students meet other college students in addition to seasoned professionals and get an idea of what occupational therapy looks like across the nation. On campus, the club helps teach students to handle their time responsibly and balance their heavy course load while building strong relationships with professors and fellow classmates.
Classroom teaching meets real-world application as students go out into their communities and find problems to make solutions.
“As part of the program, we really focus a lot on being good stewards. Good stewards to the clients to the community, and we want to emulate that in the club,” said Melissa Neff, OTA club advisor and CC Instructor.
The club donates to local clinics, as well as many other organizations. The OTA club is increasingly active in community service with the goal of helping students recognize the impact of giving back to their communities.
Neff explained, “We like to give people a good quality of life. It’s what we do.”
Whether it’s dealing with muscle or mind, the occupational therapy field strives to give independence and confidence back to those in need.
“The OTA club is all about helping people become better by doing,” Jensen said.
While established for occupational therapy assistant students, the club is open to all CC students. To join the club, students attend club meetings and pay dues of five dollars a semester. The club participates in many organizations like Reach for a Star, Grief Camp, Advancing Abilities, and the Jackalope Jump. Around campus, the OTA club is responsible for the sensory room in the Goodstein Foundation Library, caring for the rose garden in Liesinger Hall, and campus food drives.
Neff said, “I’m very proud of the club. Even though we tend to be a smaller club, we are a very active club, and the students stay very engaged in the classroom and in their community.”
This mindset earned the OTA club the Casper College Club of the Year award last year and will take these students far in their careers.
