Lauren Reynolds receives her doctoral hood Aug. 9 at Thomas Fine Arts Auditorium.
William Carey University graduated 430 students during four commencement ceremonies Aug. 9-10 at Thomas Fine Arts Auditorium. Among them were the 25 members of the inaugural class of the university’s new Doctor of Physical Therapy program.
The DPT program hosted a reception for its first graduates at Tatum Court the afternoon before their commencement. Dr. Cynthia Scott, program director, took inspiration for her remarks from John 1:16, “For from His fullness, we have all received grace upon grace.”
“These words have guided my thoughts this week as I reflected on what’s happened over the last five years to get to this point. It means a lot to me, to the faculty and the students, to the patients we serve and ultimately to the healing ministry of Jesus Christ,” Scott said.
“Grace upon grace. These words could easily be the motto of this program. I have personally felt the gracious hand of our heavenly father from the moment Dr. King and I began to discuss a physical therapy program at William Carey University.
“Many people have worked hard for this day, the graduation of the Class of 2019. You are the first.”
For two physical therapy students at the reception, the milestone means a temporary separation. Lauren Reynolds of Brandon was graduating as a member of the inaugural class. Her husband, Nate Reynolds of Forest, started the program a year later and will graduate in 2020.
Nate and Lauren Reynolds have been together since the 10th grade. Both graduated from Mississippi State University with bachelor’s degrees in kinesiology before entering the program at WCU. As physical therapists, they will work with people after injuries or surgeries.
“We both played a lot of sports in high school and we enjoyed anatomy and the sciences. We knew we wanted careers in healthcare and lean toward the outpatient settings,” Lauren Reynolds said.
Like all the physical therapy doctoral graduates, Lauren Reynolds returned from a three-month clinical rotation just before commencement. She worked at Watauga Orthopaedics in Johnson City, Tenn.
“It was an outpatient setting and I worked closely with a group of doctors. I was able to observe some surgeries and evaluate and treat patients. It was valuable experience to talk to the doctors about their patients and the surgical procedures they had performed,” Lauren Reynolds said.
“It intrigued me to see how the body is so resilient, and to see that you can work with people and help them get back to what they were doing before, or help them modify the activities they were doing to accommodate their condition. It can be a mentally and physically exhausting time in people’s lives and it’s nice to be able to be there and care for them.”
The couple would also like to work Christian outreach into their careers as physical therapists.
“We knew that, as physical therapists, we would have a chance to spend a good amount of time with people,” Nate Reynolds said.
“That’s one of the reasons we chose physical therapy. We want to build relationships with patients to help them out physically, but also spiritually. We hope to share the Gospel with them, too.”