Program Details

Madison Sturgeon, at 20, graduated from Shawnee Community College in Spring 2023 and chose the Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) career path. She had a family member experience an accident, which resulted in an SCI. Occupational therapy helped that family member gain a lot of ability to complete daily tasks many people take for granted, such as bathing, toileting, dressing, etc. Madison states that the WIOA program helped her tremendously. I went to clinicals or classes for 40 hours per week during the program, which made it hard to work. WIOA allowed me to focus on school by relieving some financial stress as they assisted me with books, fees, tuition, travel expenses, and clinical equipment. Madison says that at her current job, she works with individuals with various diagnoses in the geriatric population. Part of my job duties is to help these individuals regain strength and restore their profile levels of function while working with the rehab team to the best of my ability. Many people think Occupational Therapy has something to do with people who get hurt on the job, and while this is true, we do work with that population. According to the Occupational Therapy field, Occupation is a term used for daily activities such as bathing, dressing, eating, etc. Occupational Therapists work to promote health, well-being, and your ability to participate in the essential activities in your life. Madison feels that the WIOA program helped her achieve her goal of becoming an OTA by motivating her to stay on track. WIOA assisted her with financial stress so she could maintain focus on schoolwork. Madison also wants to extend her appreciation to the SDC WIOA Program by saying, “Thank you.”