Valerie Cardona

04/01/2021
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Philosophy

Helping people has been a passion of mine since before I can remember. I entered college
not knowing exactly what I wanted to do but I knew I wanted to serve my community and help
adults and kids in any way I could. The health topic that led me to public health was recovery,
this includes all things ranging from mental health to physical recovery. My focus is aiding
individuals in finding the proper help so that they can return to their “normal life”. In 2011, My
nephew was born with Syndactyly which is a condition where there is webbing of the fingers.
From 2012-2017 I would accompany my sister once a week to the physical/occupation therapy
sessions. Here is where I fell in love with this form of therapy. I remember always asking the
therapist a million questions and trying to learn everything I could through these sessions. I got
to see first-hand how therapy can change someone’s life so drastically, he looked forward to his
sessions and loved his therapist so much. As I grew as an individual and learned more about the
field, I knew that this was the path I wanted to take, I knew I wanted to create those connections
and help people in their journey to recovery.

My passion for health and rehabilitation brought me to public health. I learned through
research that getting a bachelor’s degree in Public Health was a great segway into Physical
Therapy (PT) school because this form of therapy is seen as rehabilitation or tertiary prevention,
which focuses on individuals who are already affected. The end goal of Physical Therapy is
improving quality of life by providing rehabilitation. Public health is all about promoting
healthy, one-on-one/patient education, community education and learning about different levels
of prevention.

I am currently working on my Bachelor of Science in Health with a concentration in

Public Health and a minor in Health Education and I should be graduating in December of this
year. Before graduation in Fall 2021 I will be doing my internship at UF health. I plan on
attending Physical therapy school at the University of North Florida for the next two years. I
hope to start a job at a children’s hospital soon after getting my bachelor’s degree. After
finishing PT school, I want to work either at a family clinic or a children’s hospital as a physical
therapist. I believe that by entering this field I will be contributing to my society by making
connections and helping individuals feel better.