By Marj O’Neill ’21, Staff Writer

When she was in high school, Becca Clouser loved science and the hands-on aspect it can provide and knew she liked helping people. She went to Palmyra High School, where she had an opportunity to work with one of the current athletic trainers at LVC.  

Becca enjoyed working with the athletic trainer and the interactions she was able to have with people and was set on being an athletic trainer. However, the LVC athletic trainer suggested that she might like physical therapy better and he set up a shadowing opportunity for her at a local clinic. After shadowing at the clinic, she knew it was the field she wanted to pursue. 

As a local resident of Palmyra, a town fewer than ten minutes from LVC, with a reputable physical therapy program in Pennsylvania, it was a no-brainer for Becca to go there. It wasn’t until after her first year at LVC that she knew which field within physical therapy she wanted to pursue.  

During the summer before her second year at LVC, her childhood best friend introduced her to Hope Springs Farm in Hershey, a farm catering to adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities between the ages of 21 and 59. The farm provides a day program in which the adults are able to participate in community activities like volunteering in the local community, visiting local museums, swimming, taking field trips and shopping they need to take care of the animals on the farm or do their crafts. They are called “growers” in the program and have a variety of farm chores: feeding their animals, cleaning up around the barn, planting, weeding and watering their gardens. They also learn a variety of independent living skills, such as cooking, baking and shopping.  

Becca started working at Hope Springs Farm that summer.  

“Working there, it’s impossible not to fall in love with the job,” Becca said. “It’s unreal the amount of compassion and patience you can express working there.” 

Becca emphasizes that working with the adults at the farm is a very meaningful experience. Her whole purpose at the farm is to make their day more meaningful; she does not know what their lives are like when they leave the farm, but she is able to provide them with compassion while they are there. Becca’s position at the farm consists of leading group activities with the adults. A large part of her role there is to learn the behaviors of these individuals and how to communicate with them, based on how they communicate, and to build an intimate relationship with each of them, where they feel respected, loved and supported.  

One instance, in particular that Becca shared is an example of when she realized the difference she was making at her job. 

“A man who doesn’t normally communicate with words leaned down and gave me a kiss on forehead, which would mean nothing to an outsider, but meant so much to me, as it was a sign of affection from someone who may not always have the easiest time communicating emotions like that,” she said. “This showed me how I was making a difference in these adults’ lives.” 

Reflecting on her time at the farm, Becca is grateful to have had this experience and that she continues to have this experience. She claims that this is a defining experience for her and that she wouldn’t be the same person today without it.  

“My experience working at the farm helped me realize I can become a physical therapist, as it gave me more confidence in my major,” she said. “I was able to see that I already have the compassion, patience and perseverance needed for this career.” 

Working at the farm was such a defining experience for Becca, that it even helped her to realize what type of physical therapy she would like to pursue, as this confidence and experience stuck with her during her field observations with a local physical therapist.  

“The farm has helped me realize I want to be a pelvic floor physical therapist, because they both entail working with a specialized population,” Becca said. “I have grown the emotional and caregiver side of me, which will help me be able to have empathy and compassion for patients I would work with and to make them feel heard and respected, which is very important in this type of physical therapy.”