This award honors students in their last year of an accredited program for their superior scholastic ability and measurable potential for future contributions to both the physical therapy profession and the American Physical Therapy Association.
The American Physical Therapy Association’s Mary McMillan Scholarship Award has been presented to Kaylee Pobocik, a 2019 graduate of Elon’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program. The award honors students for their superior scholastic ability and measurable potential for future contributions to both the physical therapy profession and the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA).
While the award honors students in their last year of an accredited program, Elon University’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program holds graduation in December. Pobocik was nominated for this prestigious scholarship award while in her third year as a student and notified of her win after graduation.
During her time as a graduate student at Elon, Pobocik was the Director of Membership of the National Student Assembly of the APTA. Prior to that, she gained experience as the vice-chair of APTA North Carolina’s Student Special Interest Group where she helped plan and execute the first and second annual APTA North Carolina Student Conclave. Pobocik also served on the APTA National Student Conclave Committee and was a member of two APTA sections/academies.
As noted by this award, Pobocik was outstanding as an Elon DPT student. She volunteered in the HOPE pro-bono clinic, caring for multiple uninsured patients. Pobocik served on four platform presentations and presented a poster at the American College of Sports Medicine Conference on the Influence of Chronic Exercise on Sleep and Salivary Melatonin Responses in Men. She began this research during her undergraduate athletic training education, and impressively brought it to conclusion during her doctoral physical therapy training. In fact, she was one of the authors on a published paper on this topic in March of this year. In addition to extensive volunteer leadership, she excelled in the classroom and also volunteered on a classmate’s extra research project.
Currently, Pobocik practices physical therapy at an outpatient clinic in New Hampshire where she is just starting to get involved with APTA New Hampshire.
The Department of Physical Therapy Education is extremely proud that one of its students won this national award and has been recognized as the future of the APTA.