Alumni Profile: Makayla Himes ELOTD ’23
Makayla Himes said her doctoral capstone at Chatham University was what opened the door to her job as an occupational therapist. (Photo via Makayla Himes)
When she was a teenager and considering what she wanted to do for work, Makayla Himes knew that she wanted to work with kids, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to be an occupational therapist until she spent a day with her family’s friends.
“A family friend had a child with down syndrome,” Himes ’23 said. “The family invited me to come and watch the occupational therapist work with their child. That opened my eyes to the realm of occupational therapy, seeing how that OT brought so much joy to their family.”
That led her to study Pre-K and elementary education at Grove City College before pursuing her doctorate at Chatham University, where she graduated in April. Before she enrolled, she said, she heard good things about the University’s ELOTD program from others in the medical community.
“I wanted to learn more about school-based therapy and pediatric occupational therapy,” she said. “When I continued through Chatham’s OT program, those skills were honed and developed. Now I’m working as a school-based occupational therapist and pediatric outpatient OT. Things definitely came to fruition.”
Himes also said that many of the skills she learned at Chatham prepared her by providing fieldwork experiences and additional learning opportunities that augmented classroom learning.
Many of the professors went beyond their textbooks and explained how occupational therapy works in real, professional situations. Himes mentioned Assistant Professor Anne Romaniw in particular.
“Dr. Romaniw has a lot of experience in pediatrics and school-based occupational therapy, and she’s shared a lot of wisdom and knowledge with me and provided a lot of good insight,” Himes said, adding that professors Jodi Schreiber and Melissa Gett also greatly helped her.
Makayla Himes (rear row, right) poses with dancers and students at the inclusive dance class she organized. (Photo: Malaya Himes)
Not long after graduating, Himes started working for the Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV, which provides instruction and educational resources for schools in Butler, Mercer, and Lawrence counties.
She has already been able to implement some of the ideas she began developing while still at Chatham, such as an inclusive dance class for children with disabilities. The dance class was part of her doctoral capstone topic.
That capstone project led almost directly to her new job, she said. “The intermediate unit I now work for sent the flyer for the dance class pilot program to all of the school districts in the surrounding area. That’s how we recruited almost all of the participants for that pilot program.”
That program will continue to be offered to children in the community, and Himes said she has more interest in integrating the arts into her OT practices.
“When this job was posted, that program provided a nice segue because they knew who I was and what I was doing in the community,” Himes said. “They saw the potential for me as a new grad to come into the organization as an occupational therapist and learn alongside the rest of their staff.”
Learn more about Chatham’s entry-level Doctor of Occupational Therapy program at our website. For more information about similar graduate offerings, look into our 100% online Occupational Therapy, Post-Professional or our Doctor of Physical Therapy programs.
Mick Stinelli is a Writer and Digital Content Specialist at Chatham University. His writing has previously appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and 90.5 WESA, and he has a BA in Broadcast Production and Media Management from Point Park University. Mick, a native of western Pennsylvania, spends his free time watching movies and playing music.