On Friday, January 31, and Saturday, February 1, the Florida Physical Therapy Association (FPTA) hosted the Annual Student Conclave. This year, the event was hosted in Tallahassee at the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU). The event provides Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) and Physical Therapy Assistant (PTA) students with classes and clinical development, networking, and some fun social activities. This year, our Class of 2022 president, Joe Schneider, was able to attend Conclave and represent the School.
Joe felt that his participation provided him an opportunity to apply what he has learned in our DPT program, but also learn about different interventions from other therapists. His favorite session was the Keynote address by Dr. Jason Henderson, PT, DPT, MBA, the CEO of Ergo Solutions Community Health, which focused on what it means to be a professional and the true value of the DPT degree. Joe was able to answer Dr. Henderson’s final question on screening diabetic patients and won his “Black Belt” for answering correctly. Joe says that it’s critical for DPT students to take the first step and attend Conclave. “It is a great opportunity to network with exhibitors, future professional connections, and it gets your name out there.” His other advice is, “if you want something bad enough, then you need to put yourself out there, make yourself visible, and make it happen—because in life, very rarely do things and opportunities just fall into your lap.” His last piece of advice is to not let conclave pass you by because it is an amazing event that only happens once a year and is filled with opportunities.
While at Conclave, Joe also accepted the FPTA Early Professional-Special Interest Group (EP-Sig) Shoes4Kids plaque on behalf of USF for raising the most shoes during their Kids4Shoes campaign. One of the final announcements during the event was that the University of South Florida School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences has been selected to host the 2021 FPTA Student Conclave. Joe is excited about the opportunity hosting Conclave will give us to show other DPT and PTA programs what our School has to offer, and hopes that some of our distinguished faculty are able to present. He also hopes that next year’s attendees are able to experience a bit of Tampa, such as Busch Gardens and the Gulf of Mexico beaches. He’s also relieved that he won’t have to drive as far to attend again next year!
To learn more about the FPTA Student Conclave visit: https://www.fpta.org/page/StudentConclave2020.