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Melanie Walsh
Within each of our Bay Path community members is an inspirational story of perseverance and strength, and we are honored to share them. This narrative originally appeared as part of Bay Path's #MyPath on social media.
“My name is Melanie Walsh and I am a 2nd year OT(Occupational Therapy) student at the Ryan Center, and I did the 5 year OT program at Bay Path. I will be graduating next year after completing my Level II Fieldwork. I became interested in OT as a senior in high school when I was thinking about how I could make an impact in people's lives through my career. The person who inspired me to pursue OT was my sister, Annie, who has Down syndrome and is 1.5 years younger than me.
“Growing up with Annie showed me how much potential people with disabilities have to really make a difference in their community and in the world. I hope to use OT as a tool to create meaningful changes in my future clients' lives and also to continue developing myself personally and professionally. The program at Bay Path is very difficult but it is excellent for really stretching your mind and constantly keeping you in a state of learning, which can feel uncomfortable but in the end, shows you that anything good comes from outside of the comfort zone. I am the first daughter (out of 7) in my family to earn a college degree, and I will be my parent's first child (out of 10) to earn my Master's degree.
“My advice to Pre-OT majors is to be open to learning and testing your knowledge, keep going, and always remember why you started!”- Melanie Walsh #MyPath