I have to tell you about my worst experience during PT school. Years have passed, but I still cringe when I think about it today.

My school had a group poster presentation where students and faculty would rotate throughout the room and we would share our research. I wasn’t nervous about presenting. I prepped some, but while other classmates practiced and practiced, I felt confident in my ability.

That is until the first group of students and professors rotated to our poster. It was my turn to speak and NOTHING was happening. I was frozen. I didn’t know what to say, and I stared as everyone uncomfortably waited for me to speak. Finally, I did. Only it wasn’t my voice. It was high-pitched and cracking. It was terrible. I’d NEVER had trouble with public speaking, but there I was unable to recall anything about the research I worked on all semester.

I hated that moment and I still hate thinking about it. Yet, every time I have to give a presentation or a lecture...

I was sitting in my office and I think my jaw actually may have hit the desk after I heard what she said. She told me she loved orthopedics, but didn’t think she was smart enough to do it. I was shocked. This was an extremely gifted student. She looked at us faculty as if we could do no wrong. She looked at us as if we had it all figured out. She looked at us in such a way that she had convinced herself she never could be like us.

This was such a punch in the gut for me. Rather than inspiring physical therapy students, we were somehow demotivating them or worse, intimidating them. We had taken the best and the brightest and made them feel like they couldn't do it. This is the opposite of what I had hoped and what I feel is my purpose. So, I want to set the record straight. I want to share this for all physical therapy students and graduates past, present, and future.

 This is the real story about your faculty:

We don't know everything

What looks like brilliance is...