Physical Therapy Students Earn White Coats
On Saturday, June 22, 32 students were honored in the Lincoln Theatre in Marion, Va. for their White Coat Ceremony. The White Coat Ceremony signifies the beginning of the year-long clinical rotation component of the program as a physical therapy student and comes following two years focused on the didactic portion of students’ training.
“Two years ago when we ran for class offices, I challenged my peers as we began our academic pursuits. Not just to ride the wave of craziness that a graduate program brings, and to merely survive getting through PT school, but rather to strive for excellence. To challenge themselves and to challenge each other, not merely for their benefit, but for the tens of thousands of patients who will be receiving our services,” said Zach Rayburn, class president of the DPT Cohort of 2020. “Class of 2020, you have exemplified that, and then some. Your successful devotion to physical therapy practice curriculum has been met with your commitment to serving this community. Not only have you navigated an arduous two years in doctoral studies, but you have accumulated over 3,500 hours of service to Marion, Va. and the surrounding areas.”
The ceremony is a rite of passage that serves as a symbol of the responsibility, obligations, honor, excellence, accountability, compassion and inclusiveness required of their chosen profession. After receiving their personalized white coats, students recited the Oath of Professionalism during the ceremony.
“To the community members here today: Thank you for taking us in as your own. Your hospitality and commitment to our success has been intangible in our efforts to drive forward in our professional careers. All of the dinners, the fish fry’s and all around-general Honky Tonk that you have all provided us with is an experience we will not soon forget,” Rayburn said in his closing remarks. “To our faculty: Thank you for challenging us day in and day out, for taking us to the absolute edge, then bringing us back up to instill confidence in our student practice. Your commitment to our education in each of your specialties has given us the necessary tools to become competent in our clinical rotations and future practice.”
The DPT program is a three-year, 118-credit-hour graduate program that reflects Emory & Henry’s core values of addressing issues of public concern through professions that contribute to the public good and educating professionals who are critical thinkers prepared to meet the challenges of a changing healthcare environment. This group of 32 students is the third class of DPT students to earn their white coats.
The Physical Therapy Program at Emory & Henry College is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE), 1111 North Fairfax Street, Alexandria, VA 22314; telephone: 703-706-3245; email: accreditation@apta.org. For more information on the DPT program at the Emory & Henry College School of Health Sciences please visit www.ehc.edu/dpt.
Open gallery
Your successful devotion to physical therapy practice curriculum has been met with your commitment to serving this community. Not only have you navigated an arduous two years in doctoral studies, but you have accumulated over 3,500 hours of service to Marion, Va. and the surrounding areas.
-Zach Rayburn to his fellow members of the Class of 2020