{"id":10066,"date":"2026-01-09T17:43:05","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T17:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/?p=10066"},"modified":"2026-01-09T17:42:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T17:42:25","slug":"hybrid-ot-student-spotlight-get-to-know-alexis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/news\/hybrid-ot-student-spotlight-get-to-know-alexis\/","title":{"rendered":"Hybrid OT Student Spotlight: Get to Know Alexis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Get to know Alexis, a Hybrid Occupational Therapy student, as she shares what her days look like&nbsp;in the hybrid program, and how she balances life and learning.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"450\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2026\/01\/alexis-hybrid-ot-1.jpg\" alt=\"Alexis, a Hybrid Occupational Therapy student.\" class=\"wp-image-10067\" style=\"width:186px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2026\/01\/alexis-hybrid-ot-1.jpg 450w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2026\/01\/alexis-hybrid-ot-1-169x300.jpg 169w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>What has been your favorite memory from your OT journey so far?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019ve&nbsp;only been at it for a couple&nbsp;months, but so&nbsp;far,&nbsp;the cadaver lab is my favorite&nbsp;memory. Although&nbsp;the lab was&nbsp;only one day, I found it really fascinating to be able to apply what&nbsp;we\u2019ve&nbsp;been learning in neuroanatomy. I can still recall and visualize that day.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How do you hope to make an impact as an occupational&nbsp;therapist?<\/strong> <strong><\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Empowering my patients and doing what OTs do best, fostering independence.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When did you first discover Occupational Therapy, and what drew you to it?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was working in the medical field&nbsp;already,&nbsp;and&nbsp;worked with OT professionals&nbsp;who encouraged me to&nbsp;explore&nbsp;the profession. Fortunately, I eventually took their&nbsp;advice,&nbsp;and&nbsp;I&nbsp;have&nbsp;been&nbsp;working&nbsp;as a COTA&nbsp;(Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant)&nbsp;for the last 6 years.&nbsp;I\u2019ve&nbsp;always known I wanted to go back to school to be an OT.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why did you choose to pursue occupational therapy?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve&nbsp;always found helping people to be rewarding. My family really encouraged me to go back to school and&nbsp;accomplish&nbsp;what I have always wanted to do.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What does a typical day look like for you as a Hybrid OT student?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2026\/01\/hybrid-ot-alexis-2.jpg\" alt=\"Alexis, a Hybrid Occupational Therapy student.\" class=\"wp-image-10068\" style=\"width:211px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2026\/01\/hybrid-ot-alexis-2.jpg 600w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2026\/01\/hybrid-ot-alexis-2-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>It depends on the day, but usually I help my family get the day going before tackling&nbsp;my own work. For better or worse, I spend a lot of time in front of the computer watching lectures, reading, and working to complete assignments. I also find some time to exercise regularly and sometimes attend my son\u2019s soccer practices.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why is the Hybrid program the right fit for you?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a parent and wife, it allows me to be more flexible with my schedule. I also&nbsp;live 30 minutes away from campus so being able to do most of my work from home is a huge time saver.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What advice would you give to future OT students?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Be comfortable being uncomfortable.&nbsp;You\u2019ll&nbsp;be learning a&nbsp;lot&nbsp;and sometimes&nbsp;it\u2019ll&nbsp;feel like&nbsp;you\u2019re&nbsp;lost&nbsp;but the faculty are always there to guide you.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Is there a particular setting or patient population&nbsp;you\u2019re&nbsp;passionate about?&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I enjoy working with the older adult population and helping them&nbsp;to age&nbsp;in place.&nbsp;That\u2019s&nbsp;what I imagine myself continuing to do as an OT.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What skills have you gained from the program that you are most proud of?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Honestly, I have always doubted myself as a student, so being able to not only survive, but thrive in this program has been really encouraging to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Get to know Alexis, a Hybrid Occupational Therapy student, as she shares what her days look like&nbsp;in the hybrid program, and how she balances life and learning.&nbsp;&nbsp; What has been your favorite memory from your OT journey so far?&nbsp; We\u2019ve&nbsp;only been at it for a couple&nbsp;months, but so&nbsp;far,&nbsp;the cadaver lab is my favorite&nbsp;memory. Although&nbsp;the lab [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2917,"featured_media":7923,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"7874,9537,8936,2525,5514,7283","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"2normal","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-of-health-and-human-services","category-occupational-therapy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2917"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10066"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10069,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10066\/revisions\/10069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}