Meet Our Fellows Blog Series: Caitlin Sears
I grew up in the suburbs of Lancaster County where I spent my childhood riding my bike down to the creek, catching lightning bugs, and playing late-night games of kickball with the neighborhood kids in the cul-de-sac. On Wood Lot Lane, my dad taught me independence and problem solving, and my mom taught me patience and creativity.
Eventually I was faced with the decision of choosing a college to attend, as boiling crawfish in the creek and making paint from glowing lightning bugs won’t get me far. Decisions—a seemingly narrowing fate for someone with such broad interests—were not my forte at the time.
I earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology from Ithaca College, and a Master’s of Science in Medical Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Washington. I then made another tough decision—to move from Seattle, Washington to South Bend, Indiana.
As a nomad intending to move every 2-4 years, I committed to nine months in South Bend to complete my clinical fellowship. About three years in, I accepted the “stickiness” of South Bend, and recognized that I, too, had fallen for this small city, with endless potential and accessibility to all the right things (i.e. quality cafes, Michigan, airports, genuine friends and family). In the next five years, I grew to love the diversity, motivation, and resiliency of this town I now call home.
Thus far in my career, the most informative moments came in opportunities to provide therapy internationally. These experiences have been appropriately sprinkled throughout my training and work years, offering unique experiences and lessons at just the right times. As an undergraduate student, I traveled to Malawi with a group of Health Sciences students and nurses. After graduating with my master’s degree, I traveled with members of my cohort and professors to Guatemala. Most recently, as a clinician with some experience, I traveled to Belize as a supervisor of a group of undergraduate students studying Speech Pathology. Each experience was similarly a cultural and clinical experience where speech-pathology services were provided in a variety of settings.
Supervising students to provide speech pathology services in Belize, while working collaboratively with an organization focused on establishing sustainable, local therapists, confirmed several aspects of my meandering career. Firstly, I have respectable knowledge in the field of Speech-Language Pathology that I will continue to use directly with patients. Secondly, I love sharing my knowledge and guiding others who are eager to learn. Thirdly, to continue expanding accessibility of services, I can take a leap of faith to gather skills and apply myself differently.
Enter, stage left, enFocus. Surrounded by passionate, motivated, and energetic coworkers, I’ve been given the opportunity to serve the community I’ve grown to love, expand my skill set, and trust my capabilities to apply my knowledge in a variety of settings. enFocus’s mission—empowering talent to build better communities—is a simple way to summarize my goals as well.
Reflecting on all of these experiences around the country and around the globe, I’m learning that decisions rarely narrow your pathway; rather, they broaden your experiences and lead you to new places.
Learn more about the 2021 enFocus Fellows weekly in our Meet Our Fellows Blog Series.