1. education
2. alumni and reunions

Athletic Training
Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Running With Scissors
April 2015
Worlds Ahead Graduate
Inside this
issue:
Student Spotlight
2
Educator
Spotlight
2
Alumni
Spotlight
3
Special
Announcements
3
Club Updates
4
Dates to Remember 5
Birthdays:
5/2
Michael Hervis
5/3
Elijah Bouldin
5/5
Shantell Littlejohn
5/6
Camille Wilkerson
5/8
Amanda Matos
5/18
Kyle Fisher
5/31
Alex Shelton
We would like to congratulate
Alexandra (Allie) Griffin
who was selected by President
Rosenberg to be recognized at
Commencement on May 4th,
2015 as a Worlds Ahead Graduate. President Rosenberg accepted the nomination made by
Dr. Restrepo due to Allie’s outstanding academic and personal
achievements.
Allie was selected by the New York Jets for a summer internship. Allie is the first female student from the FIU Athletic Training Program
to be selected for an internship with the National Football League
(NFL). Congratulations Allie!
We would also like to recognize Billy Voltaire and Elijah Bouldin
who were also nominated and considered for this prestigious recognition at commencement.
From the Director’s Desk…………………………………….
I am thrilled to report that all 15 students who took the Board of Certification exam in April passed
on their first attempt!!!! We are so proud of the following students:
Caitlyn Bailey, Elijah Bouldin, Melanie Day, Trisha DiMatteo, Kelly Ellis, Kelsey Greenwald, Alexandra Griffin, Meisha Harris, Amanda Lara, Valle Ledtke, Patrick Luebke, Kelsey Moreno, Fallon Rovel-Jones, Alex Shelton, and Tiffany Yam.
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Student Spotlight: Shantell Littlejohn and Camille Wilkerson
Shantell Littlejohn and Camille Wilkerson have been
named the Students-of-theMonth for April 2015. These students were nominated by Tiffany
Morton who had this to say about
Shantell and Camille:
“These girls were able to handle
an allergic reaction that eventually activated our EAP. An athlete on his first day of club wrestling came into the ATR after a
run around the school. The athlete was breaking out in hives all
over his face and his eyes started
to swell. The girls immediately
recognized the potential for an
anaphylactic shock. Shantell
started monitoring pulse and
breathing while Camille started
a history. I came from speaking
with another athlete and they
were able to quickly tell me the
situation. The girls already had
checked the torso and were able
to confirm that the hives had
spread. The athlete’s condition
was slowly worsening though his
airway had not been compromised. We were unable to get a
hold of the parent and during that
time his condition did spread to
his airway. The girls were able to
both quickly and efficiently—and
most importantly discretely—set
up an AED and mask while activating 911. Both were ready to
jump into action in case the athlete’s breathing was compromised but were also very sensitive to the fact this was a freshman in his first practice with no
history of allergies. Thanks to
these young ladies we were pre
Continued on p. 5
Educator Spotlight: Rodrigo Martinez and Bailey Mintz
Rodrigo Martinez and Bailey Mintz received the annual Preceptor-of-the-Year award
for 2015. Students nominate preceptors for this
recognition. This is what students had to say
about Rodrigo:
challenge. I now have regained all my confidence and I couldn't see myself in any other
position other than athletic training.”
“His knowledge and creativity in teaching his
students is unparalleled and presents an environment conducive to continued and retentive
learning. In addition, as a preceptor, he has
been instrumental in developing both my skills
and confidence in my practice. He not only
provides continual feedback, but also challenges his students to think outside the box and
grow as future athletic trainers.”
“Bailey wears so many hats in the athletic
training room and is constantly willing to
help out students and other athletic trainers.
You can see the excitement that Bailey has
when she is helping students and when she is
performing tasks of athletic training.”
“...prior to going into Belen I wasn't even sure
if I wanted to be an athletic trainer. He by far
exceeded my expectations and took this as a
This is what students had to say about Bailey:
“Bailey shows success through her work ethic
and its transferred onto me. I feel
as though this is the best thing anyone can
ever hand down to their mentee. She has
given me plenty of verbal feedback and side
Continued on p. 5
Running With Scissors
Alumni Spotlight: Paul Sinka
Paul Sinka (Class of 2014)
is our Alumni spotlight for
March 2015.
What is your favorite FIU
athletic training-related
memory? My favorite memory
would have to be the late night
study sessions I had with my
classmates, especially Sean Dolan
Folan and Thomas Dill Pickle.
What is the worst injury
you have witnessed/treated? Worst
injury I have witnessed, and am currently
treating, is a ulna fracture and radial dislo-
Page 3
cation on a football lineman.
He had started losing sensation
in his hand and was also close
to going into shock, which made
things interesting.
What advice would you
give current students?
Study a lot, but take plenty of
Mario kart breaks while studying to make it enjoyable. Also,
confidence will come just keep
practicing while goofing off
with the friends you make now.
Congratulations Paul!
Special Announcements
We would like to
congratulate Jeremy Stevens for his
appointment to the
National Athletic
Training Student
Committee
(NATSC) as the District IX representative. When asked to
describe how he felt
about his appointment, Jeremy had this to say:
“As the new District IX representative on the
NATSC I am very excited for the opportunity
to not only represent myself but FIU and District IX. I look forward to working with the
other NATSC representatives to help distribute
any new information about the Athletic Training profession. We are entering the profession
during a very exciting time, where as a profession we are starting to be viewed as the
health professionals that we are. I also look
forward to getting people involved in the profession from events like conferences that may
be where you meet your future employer to
Capital Hill Day where as medical professionals we are standing up and being heard by
our state representatives. Overall, I look forward to the experience of meeting and working with esteemed professionals within the
athletic training profession.”
Congratulations Jeremy….we know you will
represent FIU and District IX well!!!
We would like to congratulate the following
students who have been awarded the following internships:
Kelly Ellis—WNBA, Atlanta
Dream
Ashlee Skarda—Professional
softball, Chicago Bandits
Roy Diaz—MLB Dominican
Republic League, Chicago Cubs
Joel Ortiz —MLB Dominican
Republic League, L.A. Dodgers
Running With Scissors
Running With Scissors
Page 4
Iota Tau Alpha, Alpha Kappa Chapter
Iota Tau Alpha (ITA)
participated in the successful Healthcare Wine
Fair event hosted in the
Graham Center at
FIU. Members of ITA
educated students from
other healthcare profession educational programs about athletic training. Our students
also learned about other healthcare professions and how we all interact as part of the
interdisciplinary healthcare team. Special
thanks to Tricia DiMatteo for representing
ITA in the organizational efforts for this great
interprofessional event.
Also, ITA hosted their volleyball tournament on April 12th, 2015 to raise
money for the Bobby Barton Scholarship Fund. Many teams came out to
support the cause and it was a fun
filled day of great competition. Congratulations to the Young at Heart
team, which included Dr. Restrepo, Professor Martinez,
and Professor
Millan, for your
undefeated victory!
Athletic Training Student Organization
The Athletic Training Student Organization
(ATSO) hosted a fabulous end-of-the-year party at Dave & Busters on Thursday, April 30th,
2015. It was a great event attended by students, alumni, preceptors, adjuncts, and faculty . Each graduating student was presented
with a gift—a pair of scissors engraved with
their initials. The annual student awards were
announced by the faculty as well. The award
recipients were: Billy Voltaire—Golden Scissors Award, Tiffany Yam—Faculty Spirit
Award, and Valle Ledtke—Academic Excellence Award. Billy was not in attendance (we
missed you)...Congratulations to all!!!
The ATSO Officers would like to thank all of
our members, faculty, and staff for your support this past school year. This year has been
filled with great times socializing, networking,
and showing our FIU spirit! We were able to
bring awareness to our university as to who we
are and what Athletic Training is all about!
We'd like to congratulate Allie Griffin for receiving the award for participating in the most
ATSO activities over the 2014-2015 school
year. Also, congratulations to Steven Kraus
and Gabriel Campa for receiving the Honorable Mention awards! of 2015 on your next journey in life after graduation!"
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Dates to Remember
May
May 4th: Deadline to apply for the Athletic
Training Program Student Professional Development Fund
May 11th: Summer A Classes Begin
May 11th: Mandatory AT Program meeting
for Class of 2016 (3:15-4:15pm, Arena room
113)
May 25th: Memorial Day (University
closed)
June
June 1st: Deadline to submit proposal to
present at Student ATAF
June 5th: Deadline to submit application
for the ATAF scholarship
June 21st: Mandatory orientation for all incoming students (12-5pm, Arena room 119).
Class of 2016 is required to attend the first
hour.
June 23rd-26th: National Athletic Trainers’ Association 66th Annual Clinical Symposia & AT Expo in St. Louis, Missouri. Register
now—Click here
Student Spotlight cont.
pared for any outcome. The athlete recovered just before EMS arrived and is doing
well. Thank you Camille and Shantell for
your efficient and sensitive handle on this
situation!
Ms. Littlejohn was also nominated for this
recognition by Michele Benz, who had this to
say about Shantell:
“Ironically, I was in the process of nominating Shantell for being such a steadfast, reliable and trustworthy student. I have had
the pleasure of working with her for 2 semesters and I cannot tell you how many
times, I have thought to myself how wonderful she is with our student athletes, student
aids and fellow interns. There is a calmness
about her that puts a patient at ease and in
some cases when she explains an injury to a
student-they engage in conversation with
her about their injury, something I rarely
see AT interns do. I totally agree with Tiffany about this nomination, she is a wonderful
asset to our program here and I’m so happy
she was as reliable with Tiffany’s student!”
Educator Spotlight
cont.
notes on several actions I have done but
nothing has structured my clinician skills
like the model Bailey has put forth for me to
follow.”
Thank you Rodrigo and Bailey for being such
great preceptors!!!
FIU Athletic Training Program
Running With Scissors