Gwendolyn Sobkowiak | staff writer

If you knew me freshman year, you might remember my eclectic outfits and my perpetual need to be 15 minutes early to every class. I spent a lot of time haphazardly throwing myself into a myriad of hobbies, interests and tasks. My freshman year was a mixture of exploring my newfound freedoms and finding my limits.

As Father Bill once gently put it, I had an admirable amount of enthusiasm, but I needed a bit more intentionality behind my forces. I observed the on-campus Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic in a green discount polo that I had bought Downtown while shopping with my friends. I didn’t understand what anything meant. I both wanted desperately to be on the other side of the one-way window, engaging in the session, and to never have that responsibility on my shoulders.

During my sophomore year I got to spend my second semester traveling in Asia. Sophia University in Tokyo, bustling with identical black backpacks and commuter students, felt like a distinct and shiny dreamland. On my trip, I solo traveled to a small island in Japan called Okinawa, and felt for the first time in my life the great distance that existed between me and my high school self. I felt as explorative as always, but I was becoming more aware of what I brought with me. After my study abroad experience, I had 4,000 new pictures in my camera roll and a suitcase full of souvenirs to take home. I felt different, refocused and interested in experiencing Duquesne and Pittsburgh in a way I hadn’t before.

When I came back home, I felt a new sense of confidence. I was trying to rid myself of the nasty habit of asking perpetually for forgiveness for existing in the spaces I inhabited. My friends helped me kick my apology habit, and I made an effort to dedicate myself to my classes without feeling scared of failing. My junior year I was back, observing the clinic. I still felt like I knew very little, but I was more secure in my learning journey.

My senior year has felt like a flashbang. I honestly couldn’t tell you how I did it. I’ve been the graduate student speech-language pathologist (SLP) for nine clients, not including hearing screenings, evaluations and contact hours accrued from being a communication partner for other people’s sessions. I have almost 100 hours of documented clinical time, which is kind of unbelievable to me since we need 400 to be certified. I feel really confident now describing the anatomy of the upper airway to clients, educating about new stuttering treatments and even working with alternative and augmentative communication devices (AAC). I feel almost like a full SLP some days.

There’s no possible way to thank everyone who has impacted me. So many people stick out in my memory of these past four years.

My first clinical icon was Mrs. Staltari, who regularly came to class in all black. She was confident, direct and instilled in me a desire to be a professional in a way I had never experienced before. My advisor and teacher Dr. Rusiewich, with her floor-length skirts and denim jackets, gave me opportunities and support to be a community member, both within and beyond my profession. My clinical supervisors Ms. Micco, Ms. Domicco, Dr. Titchner, Ms. Neff, Ms. Maloney, Dr. Delehanty, Ms. Baumman and Dr. Senekkis helped me to grow in confidence and proficiency. They have all shown me a model of how to be an excellent clinician. I can only hope that I live up to their model.

In my non SLP classes I was grateful for the discussions. Professor Bailey, Dr. Chalovich, Dr. Porter and Professor Sayrak (and countless other of my amazing professors) took the time to engage with me about ethics, anatomy, biology and our role in the world as human beings navigating this complex and everchanging world. Professor Tierney, Professor Rogus, Dr. Ford, Dr. Snyder and Dr. Osa-Melero took the time to help me deeply understand biostatistics, the physics of speech, audiology and Spanish and how to use the information learned in their classes for the rest of my life.

Outside of the clinic I remained supported. The wonderful study abroad office and their trip leaders helped me to travel the world during my time at Duquesne. Father Bill, Ms. Kostosky (Debbie) and Mr. Cuchapin (Gio) made it possible for me to be involved in campus ministry, throughout all phases of my journey to find my place in spirituality. Dr. Luci Jo DiMaggio, who has known me since I was learning to walk, has supported me through learning to be an advocate. My editors at The Duke, Ms. Ward (Paula), Eliyahu Gasson (Big Yahu), Naomi Girson and the entire staff of the paper who diligently worked with me to help share my thoughts, opinions and musings over the past year and gave me a chance to write like I never had before (I loved writing with them so much that they convinced me to take an investigative journalism class this semester!).

At home, my parents, sister, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and my lovely neighbor sat with me through essay editing, listened to me decompress from classes and helped quiz me while I studied. My friends kept me here, studying and exploring, even when I didn’t think I could try anymore.

Through class, clinic and everything that happened outside of Fisher Hall, I’m unbelievably lucky for all of the support I’ve received.

I can’t ever express my gratitude thoroughly enough to all of these people, even in writing this, more comes to mind.

That’s a beautiful thing I think.

Gwendolyn Sobkowiak can be reached at sobkowiakg@duq.edu