Mentorship, Community, and Paying It Forward: Meet Rizing Tide Scholar Maya Jones
Maya Jones’ journey into physical therapy began with an injury of her own. While playing as a middle hitter on the Alabama State volleyball team, she injured her knee and had to seek treatment with a physical therapist. What happened next is history. Though she was already pursuing a DPT, she finally fell in love with the idea of using movement as medicine and later developed a passion for helping others find their own place in the profession. “I absolutely fell in love with my PT and the profession,” Maya says
Today, that passion extends beyond patient care. Not only does she care deeply about helping her patients regain and maintain functional movement, she also wants to help future physical therapists find mentorship, community, and support.
A 2024 graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Maya is currently completing the Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation (BSWIR) and Texas Woman’s University in Dallas Physical Therapy Residency in Women’s Health, where she specializes in pelvic and abdominal health. She is also a two-time Rizing Tide scholar, having first been selected as a Crest Scholar in 2022 before becoming a Surge Scholar in 2025.
Finding a Passion for Pelvic Health
Though Maya entered PT school knowing she wanted to become a physical therapist, she didn’t realize she could pursue the pelvic health specialty until a third-year clinical rotation.”My clinical instructor taught me so much, and I knew at that moment that I wanted to specialize,” she says.
Maya applied to attend residency immediately upon graduation, and got in! At BSWIR, she has continued to develop both her clinical expertise and confidence as a new clinician. “Since I’ve started this residency, I have grown in ways that are astronomical,” she says. Along with expanding her knowledge of pelvic and abdominal health, she credits the experience with strengthening her clinical reasoning, documentation speed, body mechanics, and overall development as a physical therapist.
Facing Challenges in the DPT Profession
During residency, Maya also began thinking more deeply about some of the challenges facing the physical therapy profession. One issue she feels especially passionate about is the lack of diversity.
That perspective has also shaped how Maya thinks about mentorship, which she believes should continue throughout a clinician’s career. She looks to professionals who have walked the path before her while also setting aside her own time to mentor future physical therapists who are still in school (a.k.a. students).
She also believes seasoned PT professionals have an opportunity to better prepare future clinicians for the financial realities of the profession. Maya intentionally chose a PT program with lower tuition and applied for as many scholarships as possible because she understood the importance of managing educational debt before entering school.
“Being educated on the debt-to-income ratio before going to PT school can definitely be a game changer,” she says. Even if the debt-to-income ratio itself doesn’t change immediately, she believes greater awareness can help students make informed decisions before they begin their education.
Paying it Forward
When it came time to apply for residency, Maya found support in the Rizing Tide community. She connected with a graduate of the residency program she ultimately joined, receiving mentorship throughout the application process from someone whose experiences closely reflected her own. That guidance helped her navigate the process with confidence and ultimately earn a spot in the residency on her first application.
“The reason why I’m even in a residency today is because of Rizing Tide,” she says.
For Maya, that experience reinforced the value of mentorship and the importance of paying it forward. She remembers how difficult it was to navigate the journey to PT school before finding a support system that helped her along the way. Today, she believes one of the best ways to strengthen the profession is through mentorship and a willingness to invest in others.
“I had that support group, so I have to be willing to be that support for somebody else,” she says.
Looking Ahead
Being selected as a Surge Scholar has further strengthened her confidence. She feels honored that “a group of people know my story, know my journey, and feel my story is worthy enough to invest in, not once, but twice.” Rizing Tide, Maya says, has provided “a community that I can lean on.”
Looking ahead, Maya believes the future of physical therapy rests on the shoulders of everyone—from prospective students to experienced clinicians. “We all have a responsibility to come together, because we have the same goal at the end of the day…to provide PT services to the community and provide excellent patient care.”
