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Kaili Kashiwaeda

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Class of 2020

When I was applying to schools my mom and I found Walsh when researching schools in the Newman Guide. I wasn’t sure how I would like being an out of state student, coming from Utah. But as we learned more about Walsh and the different scholarships and programs offered, I decided to apply just to give me more options. After getting accepted to the Blouin Global Scholars Program and direct entry to the PT school, the rest was history!

I had pretty bad homesickness my freshman year. But as I developed a tight, close-knit community and friend group, my homesickness became short lived. There is such a great sense of community at Walsh that helped me get through it.

Now, I really like going to school out of state. When I go home, I do love getting to spend time with my family and friends, but Walsh has become such a home away from home for me. Being so far away from my actual family, I appreciate the family atmosphere here. Since Walsh is so close-connected, there is always a professor to talk to, advisors, and friends across the grades.

Being involved in different clubs and activities on campus has helped me to establish a great group on campus. I am involved in Pre PT Club, Agape Latte, Science Club, Campus Ministry and Sigma Zeta, the Math and Science Honor Society. The Blouin Global Scholars Program has provided me a new family most of all.

Being in the Blouin program is a huge reason I came to Walsh in the first place. All I had known prior to my arrival was that there were two global learning experiences and service learning and those were both two huge things that I wanted to take part of with Walsh. It has been so much more. Our Blouin cohort is focused on food, hunger and sustainability. My experience in Moshi, Tanzania, has broadened my perspective of the issue of hunger, especially on the global so much that now I am able to look at the problem we face locally. I hope to implement some of the global ways people are working with hunger and food sustainability here in the United States.

I want to be a Physical Therapist when I finish school and view my role improving the overall wellness of the patient. I want to work specifically with geriatric patients and think part of that is being able to have access to healthy foods. Being in the Blouin program, we have noticed that there are so many places, Stark County being one, that are food deserts where people do not have access to healthy produce or meat, dairy, or anything unprocessed. From a PT standpoint, it would make the most sense to eliminate these food deserts to give the patients the best possible success in recovery

It’s really important to be a leader on campus to share your passions. In my case, I am passionate about reducing food waste and trying to eliminate hunger in the surrounding communities. I feel so supported by Walsh helping me to be an advocate for this problem in the world. I am so glad that I chose Walsh. I have really learned how to use what you have at your disposal to impact and make a change. I really do not think that I would have had all of the opportunities Walsh has given me if I went to another school.