{"id":7560,"date":"2024-03-21T23:33:43","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T23:33:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/?p=7560"},"modified":"2024-03-26T18:23:55","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T18:23:55","slug":"alumni-career-question-answer-donte-delia-athletic-trainer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/news\/alumni-career-question-answer-donte-delia-athletic-trainer\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumni Career Q + A with Donte&#8217; Delia, Athletic Trainer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Donte-Delia-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7563\" width=\"303\" height=\"404\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2024\/03\/Donte-Delia-3.jpg 640w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2024\/03\/Donte-Delia-3-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 303px) 100vw, 303px\" \/><figcaption>From left to right: a GA, the head athletic trainer for NAU in 2014, and Donte&#8217;.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Name:<\/strong> Donte&#8217; Delia<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Age:<\/strong> 32<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Occupation: <\/strong>Athletic trainer and sports medicine teacher at Flagstaff High School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Graduation year:<\/strong> 2014 BSAT and 2017 MAT-S.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why did you choose to go down the career path that you did?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It is a long story, but in short: I took athletic training in high school, saw that I was good at it, and decided then I wanted to work with sports, and I want to help people. My athletic trainer in high school mentored me, and I wanted to do the same for future students, so I made sure my path incorporated a teaching degree so I could work at a high school.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How did NAU prepare you for your career?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The BS program helped me so much in learning anatomy and how to apply my knowledge to patients during clinicals. Ironically, I did my clinicals at the same school that I am now the head athletic trainer for. I still think about the days during my bachelor&#8217;s that helped me continuously improve my practice. During my master&#8217;s, I worked as a GA athletic trainer in the Athletics program, and under Cherisse Kuteruff, I grew in confidence in my athletic training knowledge and my capability of doing any job I put my mind to the best of my ability.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Donte-Delia-4.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7564\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2024\/03\/Donte-Delia-4.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2024\/03\/Donte-Delia-4-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2024\/03\/Donte-Delia-4-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2024\/03\/Donte-Delia-4-800x600.jpeg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Center left: Donte&#8217; this past year with a current NAU master\u2019s student.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why should others consider pursuing a career in your field?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" src=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Donte-Delia2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7562\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2024\/03\/Donte-Delia2.jpg 320w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2024\/03\/Donte-Delia2-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><figcaption>Far left: Donte&#8217;s first year as an athletic trainer at Flagstaff High School.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>First off, if you love what you do, you will never have a day of work. I absolutely love my job; working with all these amazing teens feels so rewarding to me each and every day. If you love sports\/competition and helping people achieve their goals, then athletic training is the correct pathway for you.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What do you hope to see in the future for your profession?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Better pay for one thing, especially if the position consists of athletic training and teaching. It is a slow paradigm shift, for sure. But moving to a master&#8217;s, being healthcare professionals, and teaching future healthcare professionals, we should be able to live a comfortable life outside of work.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What\u2019s the best part of your job?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Watching my students grow and be ready to begin their own lives in healthcare, as well as see my student-athletes succeed and watch them play the sport they love.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What would you say to a student interested in pursuing your profession as a career?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Make sure you are constantly working on your work-life balance. It is okay to say &#8220;no.\u201d&nbsp;And KNOW your anatomy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What are some ways you practice self-care to avoid burnout \/ what do you do for fun?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I play Dungeons and Dragons with my friends, as well as Judo\/BJJ. I hope to be getting back to Judo\/BJJ after a long-term injury myself (I am quite excited). Plus working out when I can and spending time with my partner.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"481\" src=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Donte-Delia.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7561\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2024\/03\/Donte-Delia.jpg 640w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2024\/03\/Donte-Delia-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption>Donte&#8217;, center, as an athletic training student.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We interviewed Donte Delia, an athletic and Northern Arizona University alumni, on her experience at NAU and career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":769,"featured_media":7564,"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":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"2normal","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletic-training","category-college-of-health-and-human-services"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7560","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\/769"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7560"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7767,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7560\/revisions\/7767"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}