Rizing Tide Scholars

This is the ninth installment of the 2022 Rizing Tide Lighthouse Series: a series of blogs and video interviews that spotlight our exceptional scholars. Stay tuned for the next installment! When asked why she chose to attend Texas State University’s physical therapy program, Erika Gonzalez—a 2022 Crest scholar—says that it all came down to some…

This is the eighth installment of the 2022 Rizing Tide Lighthouse Series: a series of blogs and video interviews that spotlight our exceptional scholars. Stay tuned for the next installment! Said Mendez is a barrier-breaker—or at least, he hopes to be. As a current student at Duke University, Said is pursuing a degree in physical…

This is the seventh installment of the 2022 Rizing Tide Lighthouse Series: a series of blogs and video interviews that spotlight our exceptional scholars. Stay tuned for the next installment! Liam Calvin Odesa Henson was originally drawn to physical therapy to manage and improve his physical health. “I wanted to do physical therapy because I…

This is the sixth installment of the 2022 Rizing Tide Lighthouse Series: a series of blogs and video interviews that spotlight our exceptional scholars. Stay tuned for the next installment! Maya Jones—a DPT student attending the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)—was initially drawn to physical therapy due to its many specialization opportunities. “So once…

This is the fifth installment of the 2022 Rizing Tide Lighthouse Series: a series of blogs and video interviews that spotlight our exceptional scholars. Stay tuned for the next installment! Mikaela Renae Holley knew she wanted to attend a DPT program where she could grow. So, when she heard her friends speak highly of the…

This is the fourth installment of the 2022 Rizing Tide Lighthouse Series: a series of blogs and video interviews that spotlight our exceptional scholars. Stay tuned for the next installment! After completing her undergraduate degree away from her hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, Brittany Ballentine knew that her future was back home. “I went to undergrad…

This is the third installment of the 2022 Rizing Tide Lighthouse Series: a series of blogs and video interviews that spotlight our exceptional scholars. Stay tuned for the next installment! After watching his parents work hard and endure major physical toil in their blue-collar careers, Oliver Artiga began to research the injury risks associated with…

This is the second installment of the 2022 Rizing Tide Lighthouse Series: a series of blogs and video interviews that spotlight our exceptional scholars. Stay tuned for the next installment! In an abundance of caution, Zahraa Darwich applied to 13 different DPT programs.  Did she need to? Almost certainly not. Her application was strong, and…

This is the first installment of the 2022 Rizing Tide Lighthouse Series: a series of blogs and video interviews that spotlight our exceptional scholars. Stay tuned for the next installment! Growing up, sports-enamored Fiorella Fernandez Barreda dreamed of becoming a doctor. But it wasn’t until years later, when she stumbled upon the physical therapy field,…

This is the final 2021 installment of the Rizing Tide’s Lighthouse Series, a string of interviews spotlighting our exceptional scholars. We’ve introduced our full 2021 cohort, so the Lighthouse will return later this year to unveil to a new group of bright and tenacious PT students! Physical therapy is an amazing field of medicine. It’s…