Throughout the transfer process, Becky Collins hoped to find a community, a place that she could call home. She found that and more at Emmanuel College.
“As soon as I stepped on campus, I found that community,” she said. “I never had so many people care about my well-being, my success, and me as a person.”
As a Kinesiology major, Becky looked to Dr. Scott Bryan for advice and direction.
“He made the biggest impact on me while I was at EC,” she said. “He did all that he could to help us and poured into us spiritually and academically.”
Now as she prepares to begin PA school in June at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine-Georgia Campus (PCOM-Georgia), she looks back on her time at Emmanuel as the place where she received the foundation needed for success.
“It gave me a good foundation of knowledge,” she said. “The professors at Emmanuel took a special interest in each of us so I felt small class sizes helped me succeed.”
Class size was something that attracted Becky to the competitive P-COM Georgia program, where she was one of 30 students accepted out of approximately 1,000 applicants.
“It’s a newer program,” she said. “They’ve graduated one full class of PA’s and they’re about to graduate their second class. It’s a 27-month program where I’ll spend 14 months in the classroom full-time and 12 months in clinicals that will rotate every six weeks.”
Students entering the program are required to complete a minimum number of hours in the allied medical field before entering the program.
Becky has completed over 1,000 hours working in multiple settings, in addition to completing her advanced EMT certificate and working in the field as a state-certified advanced EMT, something she believes will help her in the classroom.
“I think it gave me a great point of view from first patient contact on,” she said. “I already have a lot of experience speaking with patients, a lot of skills that I’ll be taught in the classroom I’ve already learned through EMT school and have used on patients.”
One thing that she believes Emmanuel taught her was to be confident in her faith, something that she believes will transfer into her career.
“It made me more comfortable in sharing my faith,” she said. “I grew up in a setting where no one talked about their faith. The fact that professors and students were encouraged to share their faith at EC helped me become more outspoken and gave me a way to spread God’s word.”
What advice would she give to other students looking to become a PA?
“Reach out for help at EC,” she said. “Everyone wants to help you and see you succeed. Your professors will be there for you no matter what, whether it’s a personal need, spiritual need, or academic need. As for becoming a PA, know that it may seem like a steep mountain to climb to get everything you need to apply but if you take it step by step and work hard, it’s not as bad as it seems.”
When Becky transferred to Emmanuel, she did so in search of a community. What she found was so much more. Now, as she prepares for her next chapter in life, she does so with gratitude for the place and professors who provided her with a foundation for success.
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