SLU AT Student Builds Knowledge and Skills in Busy Setting at Parkway Central High School

SLU AT Clinical Site Spotlight - Parkway Central High School

By: Bridget Bushong (SLU MAT Class of 2018) 

This school year I am at Parkway Central High School as my final clinical rotation. I am really enjoying my experience at Parkway Central thus far. I have seen many injuries that I have not experienced before. Therefore, I practice evaluation techniques and assessing new injuries and I am becoming more comfortable doing them. 

Parkway Central is a large school with eight fall sports, four winter sports and eight spring sports there is always a lot going on in the athletic training room. My preceptor, Michael Aaron MAT, ATC, is awesome at giving me opportunities to practice new things. It’s great because he is a SLU alum so he’s a great resource for things relating to classes as well as being at Parkway Central.

I aspire to work in the high school setting so this experience is showing me everything that an AT does in the high school. We see a wide range of injuries and complaints from athletes so it keeps me on my toes for whatever is going to happen next. The athletic training room has limited modalities so a lot of the stuff we do is hands on. This has helped me develop my rehab skills and adapt to how a patient is responding to the treatment we are doing with them. It’s satisfying to see that my treatment helps an athlete to feel better and challenges me when something may not work how I originally thought it would. 

I cannot wait to see what the rest of this school year holds for me at Parkway Central.

This is one of a series of posts by the Saint Louis University Athletic Training students featuring their clinical site and their preceptors. The number, quality and diversity of clinical instruction are major assets for the SLU AT Program.