Speech Pathology Graduate Begins First Job in Rehabilitation Services

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Posted on July 17, 2024

Marketing and Communications

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#MyFirstJob is a series focused on recent graduates of the University of South Alabama.

For Caroline Locke, who earned a master’s degree in speech pathology at the University of South Alabama, everything seemed to fall into place.

During her final semester this spring, she completed a clinical internship at Studer Family Children’s Hospital at Ascension Sacred Heart in Pensacola. She worked with children in patient rehabilitation services, then welcomed a chance to begin her career on the Gulf Coast.

“I liked the job, and they liked me enough to ask me to stay on,” Locke said. “I made it known that I wanted to work there. I gave my intentions early on, and I think that helped.”

After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees at South, Locke moved an hour east of Mobile to Pensacola, where she had a family connection. She stayed with her grandparents, who had retired to the Florida panhandle, so her internship doubled as a family reunion.

“We decided every Friday would be grilled cheese and tomato soup,” she said. “On Sunday afternoons we’d eat pizza.”

Now Locke, 23, is getting her own apartment and developing a weekday routine.

In the morning, she treats herself to an iced coffee. It’s important for her to get in early and plan for her cases. To decompress in the evening, she listens to music on the ride home.

Work as a speech-language pathologist still feels new.  “Sometimes I have to remind myself that this is a job,” she said.

Locke grew up in Birmingham, where she was in the Helena High School Band and danced competitively. She had the most traditional of part-time jobs.

“I was a babysitter from the age of 10 or 12,” she said. “I’ve always loved working with children. I feel like I can connect with them. I like being silly, talking about things like Disney movies, the ‘Bluey’ TV series or the Minesweeper video game.”

Locke was always interested in a career in healthcare. During high school, she got to shadow a speech pathologist with her school system. She admired her rapport with young patients.

“I fell in love with it right out the gate,” she said. “I knew that’s what I wanted to do.”

For advice, she turned to her mother, a former librarian and special education teacher.  

“I definitely was able to talk with her about how to approach people with special needs,” she said. “How to interact, how to support families. We work very closely with families, helping them develop strategies and teaching them to support their children’s communication.”

While doing her clinical rotation in the on-campus clinic, Locke found a mentor in Kendra Hudson, a senior instructor in speech-language pathology in South’s Pat Capps Covey College of Allied Health Professions.

“She was my first graduate school clinical instructor, and I became her graduate assistant,” she said. “I was in her office a lot, asking questions and finding my way. She was helpful to me in figuring out where I wanted to end up.”

As an undergraduate at South, Locke joined the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority and participated in different honor societies. She loved Mardi Gras and enjoyed living near the Gulf Coast beaches.  

That’s one of the reasons she wanted to work in Pensacola, rather than return to Birmingham.

In patient rehabilitation services, she works with children of all ages. Some have stutters or speech disorders; others have cerebral palsy or learning disabilities.

Being a younger professional, Locke said, has its advantages when working with young patients. She feels older when she sees graduate students who are where she was a year ago. When they ask questions, she tries to provide answers.

“I tell them to work hard, but understand that school is not the end-all and be-all in speech pathology,” she said. “You don’t stop studying when you leave college. There’s always something new to learn.”

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