A Bartlett High School graduate who credits her mentors here for helping her achieve leadership skills will be using those skills as part of a national group near Washington, D.C.
Barbara Paschall, a student at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, has been appointed the Region 3 delegate for the National Student Speech Learning Hearing Association in the Washington suburb Rockville, Md. She was chosen by other experts in her field and her peers to help govern policies and activities for the only official national students association recognized by the American Speech Language Hearing Association.
“It’s pretty exciting, because it was a long application process,” said Paschall, who was the commencement speaker when she graduated from Bartlett in 2010. “I had to be recommended by my advisers and current professors, as well as fellow students.”
Paschall found out June 2 that she had been selected. As a delegate for Region 3, Paschall will represent students in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky and West Virginia. The group as a whole represents 13,000 students nationwide and more than 300 collegiate programs for those interested in speech, hearing and language careers.
So far, Paschall said she is leaning toward working with speech pathology in patients who have suffered traumatic brain injuries. Paschall, a rising senior, said she’s already gaining experience working with patients as a physician’s scribe for four emergency rooms throughout the Knoxville area.
“It’s getting me a lot of valuable experience working with patients,” she said.
Always a leader, Paschall was a class officer for all four years of high school in Bartlett. She’s also a welcome leader at the University of Tennessee.
She credits her teachers at Bartlett for giving her what she needs to succeed as a leader in her field.
“My experience in Bartlett is what strengthened my skills,” Paschall said. “It’s what has enabled me to find leadership.”
Once she graduates from her program in Knoxville, Paschall will have to complete a post-graduate program in order to pursue her career. She said she is considering the University of Memphis because it has one of the best programs in the nation for speech pathology.
But Paschall also said the program isn’t the only thing that’s drawing her back to Shelby County.
“My friends and family are here,” she said. “This is where I want to be.”
