The summer before her senior year in college, Kiersten Nice, MSOT ‘21, worked in a high school extended school year program. Although she was entering her last year at St. Joseph’s University, pursuing a degree in chemistry, she was still uncertain about what career path to follow.
At that point, she figured, she would secure a job in a chemical lab after graduation, conducting medical research until she could figure out her career aspirations.
However, that summer job proved to be crucial in helping her make that decision. At the high school, Nice worked with students 14 to 21, helping them develop transitional life skills, such as doing their own laundry, cleaning the kitchen, and running a dishwasher.
And, that’s when the pieces to her future started to fall into place.
“I ended up falling in love with helping students in that way, with traditional life skills,” said Nice. “That’s how I found out about occupational therapy (OT). I had never heard of it before. The area that I fell in love with ended up being the profession for me, and it was the perfect fit.”
A native of Hazelton, Pennsylvania, she chose the OT program at Salus University partly to stay in the Philadelphia area. But everything about the program was what she was looking for — the welcoming atmosphere, the dedicated faculty, and the thoroughness of the educational experience.
The Salus OT program proved to be the right fit for Nice.
“I was in grad school during Covid, which was a trying time. Salus did a really good job of preparing us for the fact that things are going to come up and life is going to throw curveballs but we can adapt to that and continue to move forward,” she said.
Nice realized quickly there was a silver lining to dealing with the curveball in real time that was Covid.
“The program made sure we still had the opportunities to go out and learn,” she said. “The school never really showed how stressful a situation it was. We adapted and moved forward. And, that skill in particular — getting a first-hand look at how to deal with real-world problems — was important in OT.”
That’s paid off in spades for Nice in her current position as an OT at Mercy School for Special Learning in Allentown, Pennsylvania. There, she works with students 6 to 21 on a range of skills, including zipping a jacket, meal preparation, writing their name, tying shoes, managing emotions, exploring sensory strategies, developing executive functioning, and building vocational skills.
“I’m constantly adapting and reading body language,” said Nice. “My whole job here is to support them in their occupation of being a student. Anything that they need to be successful in the classroom or in the school. I also have the flexibility to support them on things outside of school.”
According to Nice, working with special needs students has made her a better OT. The students challenge her way of thinking and they constantly allow her to see life through a different lens.
“Being able to change in the moment and give the students what they need in that moment has been the most special thing for me,” she said. “Although we were told in grad school that you need to be flexible, I think until you’re in the moment and you really need to think on your feet, you might not fully understand what that means. Being able to switch gears in an instant and predicting what might happen before it happens, that’s something that I’ve really been able to learn here.”
For now, Nice is content in the setting she’s in and sees herself working with the 6 to 21 population for a long time. And, she’s had a chance to mentor the next generation as well, taking on current OT students to help further their training.
“I feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. I feel like I have a lot more to give here,” she said. “The opportunity to share this very special place with rising OTs has been awesome. Collaborating with students has been special for me and has helped me to stay connected with Salus.”
