APTA Nebraska Podcast
The APTA Nebraska Podcast dives into the stories, challenges, and innovations shaping physical therapy in our state. We’re here to advance, promote, and protect the practice of physical therapy, build our community, and optimize the health and quality of life for all Nebraskans.
APTA Nebraska Podcast
Serving the Profession: NSSIG Board Members Share Why Engagement Matters
APTA Nebraska's Student Special Interest Group (NSSIG) executive board shares their journeys to leadership and why professional engagement matters for PT students and new graduates.
• Student leaders from NSSIG discuss their paths to executive board positions
• Service backgrounds range from extensive leadership experience to first-time involvement
• Board members emphasize that professional service creates valuable networking opportunities across PT/PTA programs
• NSSIG organizes the annual Conclave and biennial National Advocacy Dinner
• Students plan to maintain APTA membership after graduation for advocacy opportunities, professional development, and resources
• Membership benefits like discounts on shoes, hotels and professional resources provide additional value
• Board members encourage hesitant students to get involved, emphasizing that NSSIG can adapt to students' interests and time limitations
• Professional engagement helps students prepare for advocacy throughout their careers
Reach out to the NSSIG board about upcoming events or to provide feedback on what you'd like to see from your student organization!
Welcome to the APTA Nebraska podcast, where we dive into the stories, challenges and innovations shaping physical therapy in our state. We're here to advance, promote and protect the practice of physical therapy, optimizing the health and quality of life for all Nebraskans. Join us as we connect with experts, share insights and build community throughout our profession.
Speaker 2:Hey, welcome back to the APTA podcast. My name is Brad Dexter. I'm the host and, keeping in line with this theme, I wanted to highlight some of the good things that are going on within our state organization APTA Nebraska. I reached out to our student special interest group in SIG to see if our exec board would want to sit down and just talk through some of the things that they've been doing, what they've learned from being part of the organization and yeah so I thought this would be a great time to kind of highlight the good work that they're doing and hopefully create some vision for future students down the road too.
Speaker 2:So I'm going to let you guys do your own introductions. So I'm going to ask you can you tell our audience what is your name?
Speaker 5:What.
Speaker 2:PT school. Are you attending right now as well?
Speaker 3:My name is Alex Benson, I'm attending UNMC and I am the current president of.
Speaker 5:NSIG. My name is Tristan Larson. I am a second year PT student, also at UNMC, and I'm currently serving as NSIG's vice president.
Speaker 4:My name is Zach Meditz, I am a UNMC student, pt2, and I am the treasurer for NSIG.
Speaker 6:My name is Ximena Álvarez-Maraña. I am the current secretary for NSIG. I am also a PT2 at UNMSE.
Speaker 2:So can you guys tell me, how did you end up on the board?
Speaker 4:Were you voted into these positions.
Speaker 2:Did you just sign up on a piece of paper? Where does that look?
Speaker 3:like so I can go first. For me it was a little bit of a like natural progression, because I served as the NSIG rep for our Synapta board. So when I saw that there were opportunities to get more involved, I just kind of leapt on it, put my name into the ring and then we were elected, and that was last spring.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I would say similarly, I was interested in joining NSIG because I thought it was a unique opportunity to get to work with students from other schools, not just UNMC, and so I just wanted to try it out. So I literally just put my name on the form and then we get voted in, and so I was lucky enough to get voted into vice president we get voted in.
Speaker 4:So I was lucky enough to get voted into vice president. I had just finished working as a co-director for joint effort, which is something that we work with Creighton to do, and I wanted something else, to be able to step into a position for you to get to work with other schools, other people outside of UMC, and there was a spot open, so I put my name down and got voted into it.
Speaker 6:For me. I kind of got introduced to it through Alex. We are friends here at school so it was kind of almost like a natural interest. After she introduced me to it I went to the Conclave as just a student, got really interested in it, and when elections came up I saw my opportunity to put my name in there. So I am here now. So I think it was a good thing.
Speaker 2:Have you guys all Zach, you kind of mentioned this a little bit, but have you guys all served in other capacities too? Is this something that you've done through a lot of your life, Like, look, you know, not everyone wants to sign up to do something like this. Why did you move in this direction?
Speaker 3:I mean, yeah, for me it's kind of been something that I've done throughout my life in various different ways, like I've led student groups in undergrad and high school. You know, first semester here I decided to reach out to the president of student Senate at UNMC because I saw an open seat, so I joined Senate right away. I really like being involved and, most importantly, I think collaboration amongst like schools, programs and professions is super important. So having the ability and having a platform to try to make that like more cohesive is super important to me. So being involved in it, yeah.
Speaker 5:I know I would have to agree and echo that I just I love being involved in things. Um, I like taking on leadership positions, but I also like taking on even follower positions and and just jumping into a role where I feel like I needed, I feel like I could fit. I just like to stay busy. I have throughout my time at UNC, so it it seems like I should just join.
Speaker 4:I'm a little bit of the opposite from these guys. I, you know, I was involved in our track team in a small undergrad, was the treasurer at our pre-med club 15 people so I haven't been super involved all that much, but I kind of fell in love with the type of positions and being able to work with people doing joint efforts. So again, once that ended I really wanted to help out. I had a lot of fun at commonplace too. So when any position I can get to help make that better for our PT ones, the future.
Speaker 6:PT students. That's why I got into it. For me, I was really involved in undergrad. I served in one position for exec board there but in undergrad I really found the love for advocacy and just trying to incorporate community into things we do. So when it came to UNMC I was a little bit apprehensive, just because PG school can be scary. I'm a first generation student, so it was just something that I've never done before. No one in my family has experienced it. So when I came I was kind of put off initially, and now that I'm in my second year I think I have a better hold of it. So I took it as a chance and I'm happy to be doing it so far.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Thank you to all of you for serving first and foremost. Thank you to all of you for serving First and foremost. I guess, when I often think about service opportunities, generally, one we know it's going to take more time. It's going to take time, it's going to take thought, it can take emotional energy. All of those things are true, right, but when I think about professionalism and diving into the physical therapy profession, service is something that we're always promoting.
Speaker 2:Right, we need to be in places where certainly we're serving our patients within the setting that we're practicing in, but there are always going to be opportunities to either serve our profession or to serve within our communities in different capacities as well.
Speaker 4:And you guys and it doesn't have to just be NSIG, can you guys?
Speaker 2:talk a little bit about, like what value you found from being in service-oriented organizations or positions.
Speaker 3:I mean. So my background is a bit different. So like I've been involved in service oriented kind of positions, but in a very different manner than I am now, Like I did social work for a while. So I mean I've found benefit in just helping people who have less, who have less opportunity, I don't know, helping them live their life to the fullest. I don't think that there is any more important thing in the world. You know, kind of like what you were saying about advocacy, advocacy and just being I don't know being involved, helping the community, helping people thrive in any role, I guess and I hope to continue doing that with PT and like working with underserved populations. I don't know if that answers your question. You can't do a lot of answers, yeah, yeah, so I don't know. I mean, I think there's opportunity to do that in any role that you have. You just have to search for it. I had mentioned that.
Speaker 4:I haven't really been in a whole lot of leadership roles but I will say you know, my family was a lot, a lot of girl helpings in our summers, volunteering pretty much any chance we had, whether it was through church or at you know, serving food, organizing clothes for different banks and things like that. So it was just kind of something that was always instilled when we were younger.
Speaker 4:So I never, even looked at it as something that you're like choosing to do. It's just something that I I will do, I have to do, and so I've been taking that now and put it into this type of these type of positions, where you're in a leadership role to influence, to be able to help guide other people through volunteer opportunities. It's something that I'm looking forward to, so it's quite good, it's great.
Speaker 6:For me it was initially like ever since I can remember I have been doing like community service, kind of like Zach mentioned, like clothing drives or during Christmas time, during Thanksgiving, just collecting food and bringing it over to families that were in need. So I think that kind of started my pathway to service. Then in undergrad I had a new world totally, with so many people around me, so many different um communities that I could delve into. And then, um once, once I started um considering PT, it kind of just fit um perfectly and I like once it truly did click that I was going to become a PT. It just kind of meshed everything in my life perfectly. Kind of sounds cliche and like it's too good. It sounds too good to be true, but I truly did find my passion in PT. I had really good mentors in undergrad that just put a fire under me that I just can't wait to continue once I become a licensed PT. So it's just something that I continue to have as a pathway in my life.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, and I think going into healthcare, we all tend to be a little surface-based. I mean, you're constant, especially in physical therapy, because in PT it's a bit unique because you're spending so much time one-on-one with your patients, where maybe other healthcare positions you don't get to do that as much, and so you're spending all this time with people and you're listening to their needs, you are putting in all this time to help them and serve them, um, and so I think just naturally, maybe we're we're drawn to service a little bit. It makes me happy to help out, it makes me happy to listen, and I like to make somebody stay um so nsig is a great opportunity to do that, um same with any other volunteer opportunity.
Speaker 2:So as people that have been serving with NSIG. I've been elected, voted into those positions. Right? What would you say to the prospective student that would be interested in helping out, but maybe is a little bit hesitant to jump in?
Speaker 5:do it. Um, it's, it's such a good opportunity and I think what's so fun about mintsig is it's not this super stressful. Like high intensity, scholarly, academic. You know, it's not this crazy thing that is going to feel like work. It feels fun, right. We get to talk with students from other programs, we get to meet with PTA students, we get to work with faculty Like it's this great networking opportunity that instead of work, it really does feel like you're just going to meet people and build your professionalism, talk to others, hear their stories, uh, all around. It's just, it's a great experience, both professionally but, also just socially.
Speaker 3:It just it feels kind of like a good time yeah, and like kind of echoing some of that, like it's a fun organization and it's also really cool just because you get to know so many people, like you get to network. But the best part about NSIG is it can be whatever you want it to be. So like we this year might do something completely different than the next board wants to do. Like, say, we go crazy and we're like we're going to host five events right this year, next year, if they're like no way we want to put energy into like one really awesome pub night and then one other big event like awesome, you can make it whatever you want to. It's the organization for the students of Nebraska, run by the students. So there is no like correct or incorrect blueprint. Right, you can just do whatever you want with it blueprint right you can just do whatever you want with it.
Speaker 4:I think you know I have so much on my plate right now or in school. This is not I'm not going to sign up for in state or any volunteer opportunities and I kind of discussion several times with my classmates and always end up coming down to well what are you? Doing. You know what are you filling your time with. It's like this, this and this. Yeah, I see how that's busy.
Speaker 4:You could probably cut this out or be in order to follow through this amount of time, to be able to attend a 20-minute meeting or spend, you know 30 minutes of your day focusing on, you know, planning this certain amount and talking to your classmates about some organizational thing you're going to be doing, and then we also come to the conclusion like we're going to be busy for the rest of our lives. It doesn't matter what you, what you're doing. You're always going to feel like you are at your limit and it's kind of relative to your situation.
Speaker 4:There's you're never going to feel like, oh, this is, this is the absolute sweet spot. You're like you're never going to feel like, oh, this is the absolute sweet spot. You're going to feel like you're doing everything. You're doing nothing but what you're spending your time on and being efficient with your time. You should really be putting your energy into stuff that's going to be benefiting your friends, your community, and I think that's what this type of organization was able to do. And so that's the kind of conversation I had as far as how many days and how much time some of these executive positions take up with their fellow classmates.
Speaker 6:I think for me as a newer exec member. I didn't really know much about NSIG, just maybe wasn't established as well before, but once Alex introduced me to it, it was just like almost like, oh yeah, duh, I'm gonna go and do that because it's something that's interesting.
Speaker 6:Um, I keep going back to the conclave, but it was just like a really good learning experience um and I think, as PT students, um, we're going to continue learning all throughout our life, so why not continue? Well, why not start now and continue on later? So I think, for me, how I see it is students that get involved with NS member. It opens up a complete pathway after graduation, whether it's networking, even job opportunities. For example, in the Conclave, they brought a travel PT agency. That's a complete world that opens up so many opportunities. So it truly is something that we, as students, can use for our future as professionals once we graduate.
Speaker 2:You guys have so many mic drop movies we're using a snowball mic so we can't exactly drop it, but no, that was fantastic. You guys did a nice job of really just kind of highlighting some of the work that you are doing in NSIG. But I do just want to pose the question in case we missed anything Is there anything that you guys want to highlight that you do? That would be helpful for our audience to know.
Speaker 3:Well, so the big thing that NSIG does every year is the conclave and every other year the national advocacy dinner. So it's still relatively the advocacy dinner portion of it is still relatively new thing because of Nebraska being unicameral.
Speaker 3:So, it occurs. We've decided in the odd number of years, right, so 2025, it's going to be this year. So that's always in the fall, even though advocacy month is April. We do it in the fall because it works better, I think, for numerous reasons. We just have to fight Husker football. That's not that hard no, not at all. But you know, that's kind of the big thing. So that's kind of where we've concentrated our energy.
Speaker 3:We want to do more things, like Tristan and I came up with a billion ideas toward the end of last year of like little networking things that we want to start to do throughout the year to help with, like again, collaboration amongst all of the programs, ptas and PTAs alike, because we're all going to be co-workers, we're all working for the same purpose. Like we should start I don't know commingling more, getting to know each other, you know. So we have a lot of little things that we'd like to start doing throughout the year, but ultimately, we want to know what students want. So we want, like, feedback from students. We want to know, like what, what is it that you want this organization to be Like? What do you want to see from NSIG? Do you want to see more networking events. Do you want us to sponsor goodie bags for finals weeks, which we're going to be doing in a couple weeks for different programs? Um?
Speaker 3:yeah, definitely we've just got a little camp for him he's set up yep, um, but it goes back to that whole like we get to make it what we want to, and so our energy. We're trying to put as much of it into our big event while maintaining, like, some smaller events through the year where we can get to know each other, provide collaboration opportunities, provide education about advocacy, things like that.
Speaker 2:I have a couple more questions for you guys. One you are students right now and, for our audience, I asked if I could ask this question before I'm asking it. You're student members of APTA right now. You guys are finishing up your second year, getting ready to go out on clinical rotations and will graduate a year from now and enter the workforce right. Will you keep your APTA membership, and why or why not?
Speaker 6:I Go ahead.
Speaker 5:So I'm currently an APTA member, which is really nice. As a student, you get various little perks, whether that's a discount on a pair of running shoes or getting to join different sections of APTA, maybe for free. But when I go out into clinic, I am going to continue being an APTA member, for a couple reasons. One I like to be in the know, and I feel like when you're an APTA member, you know what's going on with the profession, and that's just something that I want to be a part of.
Speaker 5:I want to be in the know. I want to know about our practice act. I just I want to know what we got going on in our state when it comes to physical therapy, um, and then also, I want to still have the resources. Uh, that's something that I've been thinking about as I'm moving into clinicals. I feel like I have all the resources in the world right now because I'm a UNC student and so through the library, I can look up any article I want, or I have open access to all this stuff. And so then I get a little nervous when I'm not a student anymore, like where does that access come from?
Speaker 5:You know, where do I find the most current research without paying an arm and a leg for it, and so I want to stay a part of APTA, just for a lot of the resources that come with it.
Speaker 6:For me, in addition to all the things that Tristan mentioned, it keeps my advocacy door open, just because APTA requires a lot of assistance from the members to make sure that we can advocate for the need of our patients or for a specific bill that we're trying to get passed for the benefit of our patients. So I think maintaining my membership will continue to be something that I do throughout my career, just because it's something that I find really important in terms of advocacy, in addition to all the perks that we would get as members.
Speaker 4:I love this question. We talk about this all the time with my friends and classmates because it's really comes up all the time too, and I am a huge advocate for keeping it. I'm keeping it until I die.
Speaker 2:And you're having those conversations and, in all fairness, there can be some valid points on the other side. They do, we go back and forth.
Speaker 4:The topics I always bring up is I'm sure if you planned it out, you can get back all the money you spent on the membership from all the discounts you have. I don't have the whole list with me right now, but I have it bookmarked in my email so I can go check on it and if I'm ever buying something, let's see if we got a discount on this Renting a car, things like that.
Speaker 4:That's one of the big ones that comes up and it's also I don't know how to write bills. I love advocacy but I don't have the power, energy, the background to be able to do that. I want someone to do it on behalf of me so I can give a little money that way, so that we can continue having that in the state of Nebraska and across the nation.
Speaker 4:And I'm going to do that as long as possible. I want them to be able to fight for my living and what I love to be doing for my patients and everything like that. And that basically ends the argument today it's like how are you going to stop that Another mic drop?
Speaker 3:on that, yep, and I mean I agree with these three with everything that they said. I think for me it's yeah, the discounts are great, but the professional development, like all of the resources that we have at our fingertips thanks to APTA, and then keeping up to date with advocacy because that's something that I'm very, very passionate about and I'm going to continue throughout my career I will be one of those people that goes to the Capitol to help advocate in person. I think these three all know that I'm kind of a loud person to the Capitol to help advocate in person. I think these three all know that I'm kind of a loud person. I'm very outspoken, I'm very opinionated. I'm not afraid to like make my voice known. Apta does a really good job of letting us know when those opportunities are and then setting us up with opportunity to like take part in them. So I think that alone for me is enough reason to keep my membership going.
Speaker 2:You guys brought up membership discounts, and so we're gonna wrap up there and I want you guys to just tell our audience what's maybe one or one of your favorite membership discounts that you've used.
Speaker 5:I love New Balance. I love New Balance, I love New Balance and.
Speaker 2:I'll say it again I love New Balance. No I literally do.
Speaker 5:I have a pair just for clinical rotations. I have a pair for running, I have a pair for walking, so I like to use that as a converse. You're wearing Nike's right now. That's really nice.
Speaker 3:No one can see that for me, the deal like the discount that I found not long ago because I was looking at hotels is that you can save money on hotels through member deals, and so that's a big one for me. I like to travel. I don't know. Traveling is very expensive, so any amount of money that can be saved for that is great.
Speaker 6:I have not delved into the discounts just yet but maybe I'll go look at that new balance. But I will say I have joined to like the sections um that are free for students. So I have multiple emails that I get from those sections so I found that very helpful.
Speaker 4:So far I have bought so many shoes.
Speaker 1:I'm not a New Balance fan, but I'm going to put you in.
Speaker 4:Saccone, saucony that's another one that they have discounts for, and I usually just absolutely tear through shoes and I'll wear them as long as possible. That's not quite professional, so you want to keep up. You know a nice look when you're in the clinic, so I got a good rotation of shoes to be able to match outfits from from that website, and that's not something I probably would have been able to do. You know, be able to afford that and not have an apt to get that shirt. So that's my absolute favorite part.
Speaker 2:That's great. Well, thank you guys for sitting down and having a conversation. It was fun to hear a little bit more about the work that you're doing and I hope that this is somewhat inspiring and has some vision for future students as well.
Speaker 3:Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thanks for tuning in to the APTA Nebraska podcast. Stay connected with us for more conversations that elevate our profession and improve the lives of Nebraskans. Don't forget to subscribe, share and join the discussion, because together we're driving the future of Nebraskans. Don't forget to subscribe, share and join the discussion because together we're driving the future of physical therapy forward.
