Student Voices

Heather Fite, '11

Major: Psychology, 3/2 Occupational Therapy Program
Hometown: Mundelein, Ill.

Career goal: "Upon graduating with my bachelor's in psychology from Carthage and my master's in occupational therapy from Rush University, my desire is to work in a hospital on the OT floor for five years and then work directly with mentally handicapped children either in schools and/or other facilities."

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Heather Fite has wanted to be an occupational therapist since she was in eighth grade. She discovered Carthage while searching for colleges that offer a 3-2 occupational therapy program.

"I fell in love with the campus and the teaching styles," Heather says. "We aren't being taught by teacher aides, or by another student with a hundred other students trying to obtain the same information. We are being taught by professors — most of whom have their Ph.D. in psychology — in classrooms with no more than 30 students. We are able to ask questions and interact within the classroom, as well as get to know the professors on a more personal level."

Students in Carthage's 3/2 program spend three years at Carthage, studying either psychology or biology, and two years in an occupational therapy program at a partner university. Heather hopes to start at Rush University in Chicago, Ill., this summer. She chose to major in psychology at Carthage because she has always been intrigued by how the mind works.

"I have always questioned the underlying causes of what makes people mentally disabled, how trauma to the brain disrupts people's lives, the mental aspects with these two things, and how people who suffer from these elements are able to be function within society," she says.

Favorite professor: "My favorite professors in the Psychology Department are Professor Dahlstrom and Professor Tiegel. Both have brilliant minds and are very knowledgeable within their fields of study. They are both extremely approachable and willing to help their students."

Favorite class: "All of my higher level psychology classes: Child and Adolescent Development, Adult Development, Abnormal, and Child Psychopathology. They have all caught my attention and have made me even more interested within the field of psychology and supported me wanting to be an OT even more."

Toughest class: "I haven't quite taken any difficult psychology classes to this date, but I am enrolled in Experimental Psychology and Thesis Development for Psychology Majors this upcoming spring, and I believe that those will be the most difficult."

Opportunities she's had at Carthage: "The classes are taught by actual professors and there are no more than 40 students in any of my classes," she says. "I have been able to approach all of the professors and establish some sort of rapport with each one of them, which most students are unable to obtain when attending large schools that contain hundreds of students within each class."

She also interned at the Lutheran Home Nursing Home in Illinois for 120 hours during January 2009. She shadowed an occupational therapist. "I was able to sit in on therapy sessions, as well as actively participate with the patients and help them with their therapy process," she says. "In a couple cases, I was even able to help design what their therapy was going to be for that day, after the approval from the OT. I learned what the therapy sessions hold and the different tests that are done to judge where a person is within their abilities to function properly within daily activities and calculate if/how their therapy is benefiting them."

Favorite moments at Carthage: "The friends that I have made within my sorority (Pi Theta) and with the people that I have met within my classes/roomed with and all the memories that I have made with each one of them."

Favorite spot on campus: "The beach!"

Student Voices

James Oren, '12

Favorite professor: "Ingrid Tiegel. She is socially aware and knowledgeable, which makes learning interesting."
Read more ...

Read student voices from graduated students.

Course Highlights

People in Nature: A Non-Western Perspective of Psychology. An exploration of the interdependence of psychology and the natural world through the life projects of the Mbya of Argentina. Prof. Seymoure has been conducting research with the Mbya since 2003. Read more.