Dr. Phillip H. Warren stepped to a podium, set up on the stage at the Hobson Performance Center at Campbell University.
He looked quickly at the audience gathered in the theater before focusing his attention on the first few rows of seats, taken by the 41 members of the 2024 class of Campbell’s Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program.
“So, for the rest of you,” he said, “forgive me if my heart, mind and my eyes are on them.”
Warren, an adjunct faculty member in the DPT program, was the keynote speaker for the convocation ceremony Dec. 13, when students received their teal hoods, representing the field of physical therapy. The doctors officially graduated Dec. 14 in a campus-wide ceremony.
The convocation, which marks the culmination of the three-year program, included remarks from students and faculty, including Dr. Bradley Myers, director and associate professor for Campbell’s DPT program and Dr. Wesley D. Rich, associate dean for Health Sciences. The ceremony also featured the presentation of individual honors and awards, presented by Dr. T.R. Goins, assistant professor of physical therapy.
Warren, a physical therapist for 49 years, has been a part of Campbell since the program’s inception in 2014. Much of the learning in physical therapy, he said, comes after graduation.
“Success is good,” Warren said. “Failure is almost as good. I have long felt that mistakes are a critical part of growth and learning. Consider mistakes and failure opportunities for growth and improvement.”
Listen and learn, he said. Consider the big picture and use your common sense.
Included in the mission of Campbell’s DPT program is an intentional emphasis on service. Make service a priority in your clinical practice, he told the graduates.
“Service to your patients, because you are now equipped and ready. Service to your community, because it’s the right thing to do. Service to yourselves.”
The profession, Warren said, “can take a toll on us — physically, mentally and, without question, emotionally. Serve yourselves, take care of you. Lastly, service to this precious profession that we all treasure, because we’re unique, and it’s our passion for caring for others that drives us to serve.”
Warren, as part of the ceremony, received the Adjunct Faculty Member of the Year Award, selected by the graduating class recognizing a member of the adjunct faculty who has made a strong impact on the growth and development of student physical therapists.
Awards presented Dec. 13 to graduates were:
- The Leadership Award to Jackalyn Geraty and Kaitlin Dillard.
- The Dr. Angela Griffin Community Service Memorial Award to Hayle McClellan.
- The Academic Excellence Award to Rodney “Alan” Bennett and William Morrison.
- The National Physical Therapy Student Honor Society Award to Hayle McClellan and Autumn Harless.
- Katherine “Katie” Tanji also was recognized for receiving a N.C. American Physical Therapy Association Grant.
Samuel Eisdorfer, a 2024 DPT graduate, reflected on the student’s journey, on the remarkable changes “we’ve all experienced, both individually and collectively.”
“When I first entered this program, I was filled with self-doubt and uncertainty about my own abilities and future, yet I have found my voice through intertwined experiences, the spirited debates and the rigor of didactic coursework. I have discovered a deeper understanding of who I am, what I stand for and what I aspire to be.”
Convocation and graduation are celebrations. The hardest days are likely still ahead, Dr. Rich said.
“When those days come, I want you to think about this day, this place, the people around you, and know that you are deeply loved. You are deeply valued, and you’ve been prepared by an exceptional faculty who have mentored you and shaped you into the professional you are today.”
Rich noted these celebrations fall in the midst of Advent, a season of preparation. “Of preparing,” he said, “our hearts and our minds for the fulfillment of the promise of redemption, a promise that our broken world will be made whole and that our longing for unity will be met.
“As you play your role in the unfolding story of redemption, keep that close to your heart, and know that you’re loved and valued.”