Erin Kearney

(Editor’s Note: Erin Kearney will be attending the University of Rhode Island and plans to pursue a degree in communicative disorders.)

Bosede: What inspired you to pursue your major? 

Kearney: So, basically communicative disorders are also known as speech pathology, and it’s basically like a teacher. So, I didn’t want to be a teacher, I wanted to be a little different. I basically can work with kids or adults or elderly. [With my major, there are] a lot of different ages I can work with or different places to work in.

Bosede: How did you decide on this major?

Kearney: I was in the class Family Living last year and I loved working with kids. My mom’s a preschool teacher, but I didn’t exactly want to be at a school. So, I wanted to have different options. I was originally gonna go do nursing, but I thought speech pathology was perfect, it was equal. It was like I could work at a hospital, but be a teacher.

Bosede: What classes or activities at PV or outside of school helped you choose this major?

Kearney: [I would say] Camp Raspberry, where you work with people with special needs. Speech pathology is not exactly the same [as Camp Raspberry], but [it’s] similar because [you work with] people who had speech problems growing up, or if it’s an elderly person, [someone] who had a stroke and needs help with swallowing, or something like that.

Bosede: Is there a specific career you want to pursue? 

Kearney: So, my major is five years — at my school there’s either like five or six years. After the fifth year, I’ll have my masters and then I’ll want to do speech pathology probably at a hospital. There’s many options; there’s hospital, nursing home, or school, or I can have my own practice at my house. But, I’ll probably want to [work at] a hospital.