Name: Amber Bolen, Class of 2019 Service Representative

Undergrad: University of Oregon

Hometown: Eugene, OR

Fun Fact: In college I spontaneously gained the ability to wiggle my ears.

Hi everyone! My name is Amber and I am the Regis DPT Class of 2019’s Service Representative. Being the service rep for my class means that I work with people and organizations in the community to plan and implement service projects for my class to participate in. I have also had the wonderful opportunity to be Regis’s PT Day of Service Representative for 2017, a title that has now been passed to Austin Adamson, the service rep for Regis’ class of 2020.

The prospect of serving others was one of the main draws for me to attend Regis University’s DPT program. One of the first questions I would ask my prospective schools was “what opportunities do you provide for students to be involved in serving the community?” Regis was by far the most equipped to answer this question. With service learning projects being embedded into almost every semester, domestic and international service opportunities through the Global Health Pathway, and countless opportunities and contacts for students to find more to be involved in, I was hooked.

Regis DPT Class of 2019 students pose with Denver Parks and Rec employees after working hard mulching trees and raking leaves at Sloan’s Lake Park.

Before beginning my journey as my class’s service rep, I wanted to determine what my fellow classmates were really interested in. Being people who all made the conscious decision to live in Colorado for 2.5 years, outdoor projects were high on the list. In the past, I’ve organized day projects cleaning and keeping up parks surrounding Regis. For example, for PT Day of Service we worked at Berkeley Park to restore the playgrounds, repaint picnic tables, clear trash, and unearth perennial plants.

Another trip involved collaborating with Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado to provide trail restoration work at the Anna Mule Trails near Georgetown, Colorado. The trail restoration project was a weekend endeavor that resulted in sore muscles, a more refined grasp on what goes into creating a trail, great food, and excellent classmate bonding time.

Regis Class of 2019 students take a break for a photo op while they work on the Anna Mule Trail near Georgetown, CO.

Being the service rep for my class has truly been an honor and I would be remised not to reflect on what I’ve learned in the process. Here are some “pearls of wisdom” I was able to collect:

• You don’t have to be outgoing to be a student representative, but in my case I did have to be comfortable reaching out to community partners I hadn’t met yet.
• Sometimes what you think an individual or a community needs is not actually what they need. Our job when providing service is to listen and respond in kindness if we are to do anything tangible.
• While direct service (working with people face-to-face) is valuable and rewarding, indirect service, such as maintaining community areas, has merits too. I can’t count how many people thanked us during our park clean ups!
• An act of service does not have to be a huge, momentous task. Small acts of service are appreciated more than we think.

Regis Class of 2019 and 2020 students and friends take a group photo in Berkeley Park on PT Day of Service.

The fact that so many Regis DPT students are willing and excited to take part in service projects beyond what is expected by their classes speaks volumes about the type of people that our program attracts. I have never met a group a people, students and faculty alike, that are so committed to doing more for others. Service is so inextricably linked to the curriculum, values, and culture here at Regis that it has become part of who we are. As my classes at Regis come to a close and I am getting precariously close to “real world PT,” I know that the emphasis placed on these values will make us excellent physical therapists. We have learned to be sensitive to the needs of our patients and our communities and understand that physical therapists have a unique position to advocate for and implement change on individual, community, and societal levels. My hope as we all eventually graduate is for us to take everything that we’ve learned and apply it to our own clinical practice. I hope for all of us to listen, ask questions, create connections, and take initiative to make a meaningful impact in the lives of others.

Cleaning up trash at Berkeley Park!

Please stay tuned for PT Day of Service this year, happening in early October of this year! Look for announcements from Austin Adamson, the Regis DPT Class of 2020 Service Rep and PT Day of Service rep for 2018! If you have questions about anything involving student service at Regis, please feel free to email me at abolen@regis.edu. In addition, if you have any questions about PT Day of Service 2018, Austin’s email is aadamson001@regis.edu.