Internship Solidifies Career Path for Speech-Language Pathology Major

For Kelsey Bouder ’21 M’22, choosing to major in speech-language pathology was an easy decision. She loved to interact with students in the school where her mom worked as a special education teacher, and she even completed a job shadow with a speech-language pathologist during her senior year of high school. 

Just two years into her time at LVC, Bouder’s internships are further confirming her career goals. This past year, she interned with Leanne Snyder, a speech-language pathologist in the Palmyra School District. Bouder helped teach lessons, worked on activities with students, and collected student data. She and Snyder also incorporated speech-related games on iPads and other fun activities into the class.

“Sitting through classes and learning about various speech problems and different articulation issues is one thing, but going out into the field and being able to experience and see it firsthand is very interesting,” said Bouder. “We have discussed different therapy techniques for treatment of some speech issues, but getting to work through them in a real classroom with real children has taught me so many things.”

Bouder previously interned at Hershey Middle School, working for a speech-language pathologist in an autism classroom, and the Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic. She said that working at the clinic was a fast-paced and vastly different experience compared to her internships at local schools. 

Although Bouder first heard about LVC as a track and field recruit, she became interested in the College during her visit when she realized the kind and genuine nature of everyone on campus, she said. The school’s new five-year, direct-admission master’s program for speech-language pathology was another selling point, but, ultimately, Bouder’s decision came down to the feeling that she, and so many other students, get when they first came to LVC.

 “From the first moment I stepped on campus I knew it was the right place for me,” she said.

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- Darby Seymour, Marketing & Communications Student Assistant