Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker encouraged University of Illinois students to live and work in his home state
J.B. Pritzker was the invited speaker at the kickoff to the 2024 Sapora Symposium (Photo provided)
If there is one thing Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker knows about, it’s hospitality.
A member of the family that owns the Hyatt hotel chain, Pritzker on Jan. 25 gave the opening remarks for the Sapora Symposium—organized by the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign—and implored students to “stay in Illinois.”
“My advice is stay in the state of Illinois because a lot is happening here that is going to be good for your careers,” said the 59-year-old Pritzker. “It’s not just the governor trying to convince you to do something that you don’t want to do. It’s the governor telling you that I have seen a real change in the way this state thinks of itself and the opportunity that exists, particularly in travel and tourism and recreation.”
Pritzker was the invited speaker at the recent kickoff to the Sapora Symposium, a semester-long class that features alumni and other professionals who share insight on current issues in recreation, sport and tourism. This year’s theme, according to instructor Michael Raycraft, a teaching associate professor, is the “important roles for recreation, sport, and tourism agencies in the revival of the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of Chicagoland in the post-pandemic era.”
Among the topics that came up during the discussion with Pritzker—moderated by Raycraft and RST alumni and adjunct faculty member Carmen Rossi—were contemporary issues in parks, tourism and sport and their importance to Illinois’ future.
“Not just because I come from a family that’s been involved in tourism and the hospitality industry, but from a state perspective, it is one of the easiest ways to boost revenues,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker—a Democrat—touted his administration’s recent success in the tourism sphere, primarily securing the Democratic National Convention, slated for Aug. 19-22 at the United Center.
“It is my job to get major conventions to come to the state,” he said. “In politics, it’s like the Super Bowl every four years. It brings 50,000 people, and they’re going to spend weeks on end beforehand, setting up and bringing people in. The delegations are going to fill all the hotels here.
“We won it for a couple of reasons. There are politics involved. But … what mattered most was when (the DNC committee) came here, they were blown away. Because our hotels are in close proximity to one another. Hotels are close to all the places that the convention will take place. And everybody knows summer in Chicago is one of the best things in the world.”
Pritzker ended his remarks by saying the state’s “tourism economy is booming coming out of Covid.”
“My advice to you all is, stay in Illinois because we’re headed in the right direction if you want to be in this economy, in this tourism and recreation world.”
Stephanie Voss’s research at the College of Applied Health Sciences looks at how might yoga be used to manage lasting pain
Stephanie Voss, a kinesiology Ph.D. candidate, is a yogi and occupational therapist. Her research blends the two interests together. (Photo by Ethan Simmons)
To doctoral candidate Stephanie Voss, chronic pain treatment and yoga have more in common than we think.
Voss, now in her third year of a kinesiology Ph.D program at the University of Illinois, first came across the connection while working as an occupational therapist at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, a rehabilitation research hospital in Chicago.
While she consulted patients who were dealing with persistent, chronic pain, Voss was training to become a yoga instructor—an out-of-class hobby that helped her overcome her own studying-induced back pain.
“I couldn’t get over how similar the treatment approaches are,” Voss said. “Yoga is very much a holistic practice, and we address chronic pain in very much a similar way—it involves working as part of an interdisciplinary team on strength and muscle conditioning and posture and body mechanics. We also work on the psychological components, the emotional components and how we can integrate pain management strategies into daily life.”
Today, Voss’s research at the College of Applied Health Sciences merges the two: How might yoga be used to manage lasting pain?
This fall, she was named a recipient of the Paul D. Doolen Graduate Scholarship for the Study of Aging, an annual award given to two University of Illinois graduate students whose scholarly work advances research on the human aging process.
With the help of the Doolen scholarship, Voss will develop a yoga protocol that specifically targets interoception, or the ability to perceive and interpret the sensations within one’s own body, an ability which may fade as we age.
The project will explore whether yoga can improve older adults’ abilities detect and interpret feelings of pain and discomfort within their bodies.
“I found [the scholarship] relevant to my research because most of my patients are older adults,” she said. “Chronic pain is immensely prevalent in older adult populations for various reasons but interestingly older adults tend to not be included in pain trials as often.”
What the $4,250 scholarship gives her for now is “breathing room,” Voss said. “Being a grad student isn’t always easy from a financial standpoint, so having a little bit of extra support to free up my time and mental space, it’s one less thing to worry about.”
She’s very smart, and very personable. It’s just refreshing for somebody to have such a good perspective on the science of what she does, but to also be very respectful and willing to take criticism for what it’s worth.
Steve Petruzzello
Health and Kinesiology professor
Voss received her B.S. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Northwestern University in 2014 and her M.S. in Occupational Therapy from Rush University in 2018.
She began at the University of Illinois in August 2021, working under former Illinois KCH Associate Professor Neha Gothe in Gothe’s Exercise Psychology Lab. Gothe was one of the only academics exploring the connection between yoga and pain management. Voss, then fully working as an occupational therapist, reached out to Gothe over email, expressing her desire to pursue a Ph.D. under her.
Since then, Voss has worked as a research assistant and teaching assistant, having instructed an introductory-level yoga class while periodically working with patients at the AbilityLab in Chicago. She recently taught the yoga intervention for one of Gothe’s research studies working with older adults.
“That got to really challenge my clinical and yoga teaching skills to integrate modifying postures for people who live in different bodies than mine,” Voss said. “It’s so immensely important that my research questions are rooted in the clinical needs of the patients. I want to make sure I’m still in touch with that population.”
When Gothe departed Illinois for Northeastern University in Boston, Voss decided to stay and finish the final stages of her Ph.D. program, with KCH Professor Steve Petruzzello stepping up as her on-site doctoral co-advisor.
“She’s very smart, and very personable,” said Petruzzello, who first met Voss while she made insightful comments in his class, KIN 443: Psychophysiology of Exercise & Sport. “It’s just refreshing for somebody to have such a good perspective on the science of what she does, but to also be very respectful and willing to take criticism for what it’s worth.”
Both her mentors described Voss as a methodical, talented researcher whose clinical experience has given her unique perspective and a deft ability to communicate scientific concepts to different audiences.
“She has an eye for translation and application of the research in clinical as well as real-life settings,” Gothe said. “Her years of yoga training and teaching also give her a unique advantage to work and communicate with her patients and research subjects.”
After her graduation, expected in spring 2025, Voss hopes to work in a hybrid clinical-academic position. In the meantime, Voss has seen great recruitment interest in her dissertation research, examining yoga as a strategy for chronic pain management.
“I do feel like I will be leaving with a degree that gives me a lot of opportunity and flexibility that I can teach in occupational therapy departments. I’ll be fully qualified for that, but I’ll also be fully qualified to teach in more traditional academic university-based settings that are not necessarily a clinical program,” Voss said.
Solomon Siskind is investigating what it’s like to be a Black student-athlete at a predominantly white institution and how being part of a racial affinity group affects their life on campus
Solomon Siskind is leading a double life at the U. of I: While researching diversity and inclusion for student-athletes, he leads Illinois Athletics development program for them. (Photo by Ethan Simmons)
Solomon Siskind is living a double life at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign—two lives that are finely intertwined.
While the Recreation, Sport and Tourism doctoral student researches diversity, inclusion and belonging for college athletes, he’s also applying those concepts as the Coordinator for Illini Way Student-Athlete Development in Illinois’ Division of Intercollegiate Athletics.
“The research that I’m doing is what I’m doing in my every day,” Siskind said. “Who I’m advocating for, and who I’m empowering.”
“No one day is the same” for Siskind in DIA. He’s laser-focused on preparing student-athletes for their transition to life after sport, whenever the ball stops bouncing or the track runs out for them.
A Midwest transplant from the East Coast, Siskind’s own experiences—as a former college athlete himself on the University of Massachusetts Amherst football team—inform his new day-to-day as a young scholar-practitioner in the sports industry.
Now, he’ll be studying these issues with his first grant-funded research project, entitled “Do we belong here? Examining Black student-athlete affinity groups as spaces for belonging at historically white institutions,” with a $7,500 grant from the NCAA. He spent the first year of his doctoral program ideating the project with his advisor, RST Assistant Professor Yannick Kluch. In his second year, he has started the research.
As one of five graduate students selected to receive the competitive grant, Siskind will conduct semi-structured interviews with Black student-athletes in NCAA Division I, predominantly white colleges across the country to better understand their experiences. Namely, what it’s like to be a Black student-athlete at a predominantly white institution and how being part of a racial affinity group affects their life on campus.
The topic dovetails with Siskind’s professional and personal experiences. He was part of an affinity group for student-athletes of color at UMass Amherst, and he advises its equivalent at Illinois, called “EMPOWER.”
“I’m interested in, what’s the impact going to be? How am I going to be able to take the findings from this research and provide recommendations to different institutions so they can better serve our Black student-athletes?” Siskind said.
Kluch is excited for Siskind’s project getting off the ground on this “much-needed topic,” and grow his horizons in the field.
“Solomon, in many ways, embodies many of the qualities I look for in doctoral students seeking to be advised by me. I care a lot about doing good work, doing rigorous research, knowing your expertise, but also applying that to industry contexts,” Kluch said. “With Solomon, he gets it. He has lived it. He lives it every day here at Illinois.”
From the playing field to the classroom
From Brockton, Massachusetts, Siskind grew up in New England and stayed there for his undergraduate work, walking on to the UMass Amherst football team as a freshman. Even with sports in the foreground, Siskind was dead set on obtaining an advanced degree like his older brother and sister before him.
“I’m a first-generation college student. My mother placed a big emphasis on higher education with me and my siblings from the beginning. She had both of my siblings in high school and as a single mother, her dream of going to college was no longer an option,” he said.
Siskind had to confront his own athletic mortality far earlier than he would’ve liked. Multiple knee injuries and surgeries derailed his playing time at tight end for the UMass Minutemen.
“I’ve had a lot of time down off the field, I’ve had space to think about this, because I knew ‘I’m not going professional,’” Siskind said.
It’s a concept he now talks about with his students at Illini Way: student-athlete identity foreclosure. What comes next after organized sports? Even the greats confront it eventually: Tom Brady is a football broadcaster now after 23 years in the NFL; Derek Jeter started preparing for the transition 10 years before his MLB career ceased; track and field star Allyson Felix started up her own lifestyle brand for women prior to retirement, Siskind recalled.
As an upperclassman, Siskind began to wrap his head around these concepts academically. In his junior year, he attended the Black Student-Athlete Summit in Austin, Texas, where presentations on student-athlete development and diversity, equity and inclusion in college sports lined the conference.
“That was my first time seeing that type of research and the type of conversations I wanted to have,” Siskind said. “From that moment on, I was like, ‘I want to do that.’”
For his first bite of research, he partnered with fellow college athlete Desiree Oliver of the UMass women’s basketball team to analyze the experiences of student-athletes of color at their university.
The study aimed to better understand how their experiences as student-athletes were shaped by being at a predominantly white institution, or PWI. The data showed, among other trends, that student-athletes of color were three times as likely to report experiencing “culture shock,” and half reported feeling depressed or isolated at their institution.
While obtaining his master’s, he learned under one of the top scholars in the diversity, equity and inclusion field as research assistant for Nefertiti Walker, now Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, and Equity for the UMass system.
“I knew this is what I wanted to do,” he said.
Perfect timing, perfect opportunity
If you’d asked Siskind if he wanted to stay in the Midwest two years ago, he would’ve “thought you were absolutely out of your mind.”
A postgraduate internship at the NCAA’s Office of Inclusion brought him from the East Coast to Indianapolis, Indiana, where he supported the office’s inclusion initiatives for a broad swath of student identities.
Outreach from a familiar face, Elizabeth Hamlet, opened his eyes to the university two hours to his west, in Urbana-Champaign. Hamlet was the Senior Assistant Director of Academic Success at UMass while Siskind attended, but now she serves as the Assistant Director of Academic Services for Illinois Athletics. They discussed a new opening in the athletic department in student-athlete development.
“Liz had been a mentor for me at UMass, and was someone who helped me develop off the field,” Siskind said.
The opportunity was attractive. At the same time, another connection was making the move to Urbana: Kluch had applied for a tenure-track professorship at RST. The two got offered and accepted their Illinois positions at the same time.
“When I thought about which Ph.D. programs I wanted to go into, he was the person I wanted to work with,” Siskind said. “I knew our research, our works and passions already aligned with one another.”
“It was really perfect timing.”
Siskind and Kluch had been acquainted for some time, following each other on social media platforms because they shared a research area. Their scholarly interest in diversity, equity and inclusion overlapped perfectly.
“The professionals who care about these things in the sports industry, it’s a pretty small and tight-knit group,” Kluch said.
Kluch had caught wind of Siskind’s social justice leadership on the UMass campus during his time as a student-athlete: “He was very big on elevating the athlete voice, promoting racial justice, social justice, DEI within those contexts.”
What further connects them, Kluch said, is their shared philosophy as “scholar practitioners,” aiming to extend the impact of their research beyond the classrooms or academic journals and into the real world. When he learned Siskind wanted to pursue graduate school, Kluch hit the recruiting trail to bring him to Illinois’ RST program.
“It’s so fun to work with him because a lot of grad students struggle with finding the connection between the theory, the theoretical, and the practical. And he walks that line seamlessly,” Kluch said.
An advisor who’s “been in their shoes”
Mary Long started at Illinois Athletics just a month after Siskind, and they’ve been crossing paths ever since.
Long, a second-year Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Fellow at DIA, coordinates cultural events for student-athletes, facilitates diversity training for staff, leads a mentorship program for students and advises Illini Allies, the LGBTQIA+ affinity group for Illinois athletes. She complimented Siskind’s ability to build rapport with student-athletes and quickly link them to scholarships or leadership opportunities.
“He takes the time to connect with them on a personal level—he’s warm, friendly, and genuinely interested in each student-athlete. Once he’s in your corner, he’s all in,” Long said. “His biggest strength as a student-athlete development coordinator is that he has firsthand experience as a former student-athlete. He’s been in their shoes, so he gets the unique challenges they face.”
He takes the time to connect with them on a personal level—he’s warm, friendly, and genuinely interested in each student-athlete.
Mary Long
Division of Intercollegiate Athletics
Siskind’s schedule is packed these days, balancing his part-time doctorate program with a full-time student support role. He leads sessions of RST 118: Transition to College for first-year student-athletes and helps them with major selection and grad school applications, resumes, leadership development and the like.
On top of that, he heads Illini Way’s community outreach efforts and co-advises the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), which provides insights to athletics administration and leadership development for more than 40 Illinois student-athletes across each athletic team, all while advising EMPOWER’s student leaders.
“I view student-athlete development as a part of DEI, because the work that we do has real implications in the lives of our students. whether it is through creating inclusive spaces, developing life skills, or growing civically and community engaged leaders, it all matters,” Siskind said. “The transition to life after sport is a very hard transition. I also think being able to help our student-athletes understand who they are as individuals, as leaders, and prepare them for life itself is super important.”
The job is fulfilling, but the opportunity to study in the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism was a huge draw. Siskind has particularly enjoyed taking “Theory and Methods of Leisure” as a student of Associate Professor Liza Berdychevsky this fall.
“The number of things I’ve learned in the last few class sessions, it blows my mind. It’s not just sport management in RST—I’m excited to continue learning from all the faculty here,” he said.
(Siskind’s study on racial affinity groups for student-athletes is actively recruiting. Visit the following link to complete the survey and see if you qualify for participation.)
A team of Applied Health Sciences professors obtained a five-year, $1.1 million grant from the Office of Special Education Programs of the U.S. Department of Education to educate 10 speech-language pathologists
The first, five-student cohort of the REACH-SLP program at Hessel Park. Upon graduation from the speech-language pathology master’s program, each student is committed to serving children with high-intensity communication needs. (Photo by Ethan Simmons)
Between stuttering, language delays and articulation problems, Marjorie Campbell saw the gamut of communication disorders while shadowing a speech-language pathologist (SLP) at Champaign’s Edison Middle School.
She also witnessed “how drastically their quality of life improved when they were given effective communication strategies,” said Campbell, who majored in psychology at Illinois.
“It was something I felt like a lot of kids from underrepresented backgrounds don’t have access to because of financial reasons. I felt like that was a need I wanted to fulfill,” she said.
This fall, Campbell is back on the Illinois campus, training to become an SLP equipped to address those same language needs for school children. And her master’s degree at the Department of Speech and Hearing Science will be almost entirely paid for.
A team of Applied Health Sciences professors obtained a five-year, $1.1 million grant from the Office of Special Education Programs of the U.S. Department of Education to educate 10 speech-language pathologists: each trained to serve children with high-intensity communication needs, each coming from underrepresented ethnic, economic or linguistic backgrounds.
The first five-student cohort is now settled and learning on campus—the next five will be accepted in two years’ time, when the current students complete the program.
The project is titled Recruitment, Education, and Advancement of Clinical ScHolars in SLP, or “REACH-SLP,” a master’s level program co-directed by AHS faculty Mary Flaherty, the principal investigator and assistant professor in SHS, and Wes Wilson, the co-PI and assistant professor in the Department of Health and Kinesiology. Amy Strohman, a certified SLP and clinical instructor in SHS, also served as project co-director last year.
The grant essentially pays the students through school, covering every SLP-in-training’s tuition, fees and health insurance, while providing a stipend each year they’re enrolled.
“Hopefully they’ll have to take out very little additional loans or hopefully they won’t have to get another job to support themselves, so that they can focus solely on their education, which is what we want,” Wilson said.
In return, each student commits to serving children with communication disorders for at least four years after graduation, in a U.S. school, clinic, or medical setting of their choosing.
“Schools are our goal. We want to flood the schools with these people,” Flaherty said.
Schools are our goal. We want to flood the schools with these people.
Mary Flaherty
SHS assistant professor
Three of the five students in the first cohort are fluently bilingual, and all of them come from diverse ethnic and educational backgrounds. The program is designed to fill two “huge needs,” Wilson added: the shortage of SLPs in school settings—especially those trained for co-occurring communication disorders—and the shortage of bilingual SLPs in general.
Language delays, stuttering or stammering, swallowing problems, autism spectrum disorder, ADHD—any overlaps fall under the “high-intensity needs” banner, Flaherty said. After their first few weeks on campus, the first members of the REACH-SLP cohort are motivated to make a change.
“I don’t think people realize the shortage of SLPs who are trained to serve that youth,” Campbell said. “I think it’s why it meant so much more to me and the people in the program is we recognize those needs who are often unrecognized by a lot of people.”
Getting the grant
Before coming to Illinois, Marco Barcenas-Consuelo was on what seemed to be a straightforward academic path at the University of Richmond in Virginia. After completing an undergrad degree in neuroscience and minor in linguistics, the Round Lake Beach, Ill., resident was planning to enter the research track.
But after seeing presentations at a linguistics conference, including real-world perspectives from speech-language pathologists, Barcenas-Consuelo realized he wanted to use what he’d learned in school to help children.
He surveyed school openings in his home state, from Northwestern to Rush University to Urbana-Champaign, and learned about the REACH-SLP program at an open house. He sent in his application for the Illinois Department of SHS, not banking on receiving the scholarship. “I liked the program; I liked the rest of what (SHS) offered as a whole.”
“When I first got the general acceptance, I was really, really happy. It’s close to home, it’s a good school. And a couple weeks later they tell you, ‘you got the REACH-SLP, you have the funding, you’ll have this extra support,’” he recalled.
“I was so happy, there isn’t a word to describe how happy I was. For one, it would eliminate any sort of financial worries me and my family had about pursuing this field. And the fact that they’d have monthly meetings giving us guidance, telling you how to work with a specific population, I thought it was a perfect fit.”
He committed to the U. of I. the very next day, without yet setting foot on campus: “Let’s agree to this before they change their mind or something,” Barcenas-Consuelo said.
After spending a year studying abroad in Brazil, and another on a Fulbright scholarship in Portugal, Barcenas-Consuelo is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish, the latter of which he grew up speaking in the home.
As part of the program, the REACH-SLP cohort has regular monthly meetups with the faculty leaders. The focus is preparing the students for their future roles in the education setting.
“We’re trying to make it interdisciplinary as much as possible, even though that’s not the main focus of this grant. Because we do recognize any sort of extra enrichment is important,” Wilson said.
Though Wilson’s expertise doesn’t address speech-language pathology directly—he specializes in adapted physical education for students with disabilities—prior experience prepared him to write the grant and help Flaherty run the program.
Wilson pursued a similar collaboration while at the University of Utah, obtaining a grant to train students in both adapted physical education and speech-language pathology. Shortly after accepting his offer to join Illinois faculty, he reached out to Flaherty—before ever meeting in-person—to hit the ground running on a similar project.
Their first interdisciplinary proposal to the U.S. Department of Education didn’t come through, but with a lift from Flaherty, the faculty pivoted. In a matter of weeks, they crafted a new proposal singularly focused on training these skilled preservice SLPs.
The new grant came back from a competitive field in September 2023, two months after their submission to the Department of Education. Wilson decided to stay on the project as co-director.
“I was shocked that we got the grant because I’m not an SLP—I’m more of a hearing scientist. But I work with SLPs. I train SLPs. So obviously, I’m qualified for it. But I just didn’t expect to get the grant as easily as we did,” Flaherty said.
The REACH-SLP project addresses a soft spot for Flaherty’s work as well: Diversifying the speech and hearing science field.
“There is a lack of representation of those groups within the field, SLPs are serving tons of underrepresented groups, but they are not themselves representing that,” she said.
The mission of diversifying the field motivates the project leaders and advisors—including SHS Professor Fatima Husain, chair of the College of Applied Health Sciences’ DEI initiative, and Jennifer Dahman, an SLP and clinical instructor in SHS—as well as the students themselves.
“We all have our own little niches—serving kids who are bilingual or come from low-income communities—I think it’s amazing how all those different issues can come together, and how we can all fill different gaps that need to be filled in speech-language pathology, and provide support for these children who really do need these individualized services.”
For First-Generation Student Week in 2024, we highlighted stories from students at the College of Applied Health Sciences
RIHANNA SHEGOG
Kinesiology first-year student Rihanna Shegog grew up between Bradley and Shawneetown, Illinois—essentially, at both ends of the state.
It wasn’t until a college fair her senior year of high school that the University of Illinois first came on her radar. “Which is crazy, because it’s such a big school,” she said.
Shegog credits her time with I-LEAP—an AHS leadership program that supports first-generation college students—for helping her adjust to campus life.
“At first I felt a lot of pressure because I’m the first one in my family to go to college,” Shegog said. “But they really just want me to be happy and successful.”
VINCENT ANELLI
Vincent Anelli’s decision to come to Illinois was “a pretty obvious” one, he said, when he factored in the realistic tuition with the university’s top-notch speech and hearing science program. Now a sophomore, Anelli credits I-LEAP for teaching the basics of applying to research positions and internships early on.
“Being a first-gen scholar, there’s a lot of pressure to it, especially because my parents worked really hard for me to be here,” Anelli said. “It definitely helps me refocus, that I’m here for my academics. It’s a little daunting at times, but it’s a big motivator.”
AVA MONTAÑEZ
Freshman Ava Montañez searched for college programs that would help support a career in the sports industry. Illinois rose to the top of her list with its RST degree. And her family has helped her transition into college life. As the youngest of six siblings, Montañez leaned on her older twin sisters for advice in the application process. Together, they’re part of the first generation in their family to pursue higher education.
“I went to a small elementary school and middle school; coming to a school like this was a big change because I’m so used to knowing everyone around,” Montañez said. “But I had friends from my old school who came with me, and I have the I-LEAP program with staff I can go to.”
CLARISSA HARRINGTON
Clarissa Harrington was drawn to Illinois after a high school field trip to Champaign-Urbana, 90 minutes from her hometown of Springfield.
The sophomore initially wanted to join a pre-medicine track, but the focus of community health aligned best with her interests.
“After taking my first intro class and learning about community health and public health, I realized it was avbetter fit for me,” Harrington said. “I stayed in because I think it does a great job of helping minority communities on a large scale.”
The first-generation college student says she acclimated to campus “really fast,” serving on the I-LEAP student advisory board to help shape the university experience for incoming students on her same path.
Hoda Elshorbagy’s journey from rural Egypt to central Illinois was an unlikely story, a path littered with numerous obstacles.
Hoda Elshorbagy aims to develop the sport of wheelchair racing and become Egypt’s first qualified wheelchair racing coach (Photo provided)
By JONATHAN KING
In her home in southern Egypt, Hoda Elshorbagy glanced at the TV, then turned to her father with clear-eyed conviction and said, “One day, I’m going to do that.”
Without missing a beat, he said, “Yes—you need to be one of them.”
Elshorbagy and her father were glued to the 2016 Paralympic Games that day in their rural village when they saw for the first time a sport that would become Hoda’s passion: Wheelchair racing.
Only eight years later, Elshorbagy—now a member of the Illinois wheelchair racing team—finished 10th in the women’s wheelchair division of the 128th Boston Marathon. The timing seemed improbable, but for those who know Elshorbagy and her determination, it was no surprise.
Elshorbagy’s journey from rural Egypt to central Illinois was an unlikely story, a path littered with numerous obstacles.
At eight months old, she was paralyzed due to a medical error. With her parents’ help, she endured 13 surgeries, enabling her a degree of mobility supported by crutches and braces. Elshorbagy then discovered adaptive sports and chose discus throwing and weightlifting. But wheelchair racing? She didn’t own a wheelchair and wheelchair racing was unfathomable in Egypt, where wheelchair accessibility is uncommon.
Without a wheelchair, team or coach, what was she to do?
Elshorbagy traveled to Cairo to meet with adaptive sport leaders but met resistance. Still, she was unbowed.
“When they told me ‘No, no, no,’ I heard ‘Yes, yes, yes,’” she said.
So, she ventured into the unknown and found someone to build a custom wheelchair, and she worked with a friend to fabricate custom gloves. She used YouTube to find videos of the Illinois wheelchair team and Coach Adam Bleakney. To understand Bleakney’s videos, though, she had to learn English. She dreamed that one day she would join the Illinois team to learn from Bleakney face to face. For seven years, she planned, prayed, persevered and practiced.
And then came her break.
She applied for and was awarded a grant by the Challenged Athletes Foundation. Elshorbagy traveled to the U.S. for one week at the invitation of CAF Coach Carlos Moleda. This experience further ignited the fire in her belly. Returning to Egypt, Elshorbagy began to contact anyone she could find on Facebook who might be able to help make a connection that would open a door to the prestigious Illinois wheelchair team.
“How can I get to Illinois and train with Coach Bleakney? That question fueled me,” she said. “Eventually, someone introduced me to Coach Marty Morse (DRES’ first wheelchair track and field coach), and he became my online coach for the next year and a half.”
And then came the news. Coach Morse invited Elshorbagy to come to Illinois in April 2023. What was originally planned as an introductory visit to fit her for a racing chair turned into Bleakney encouraging her to enroll in Parkland College as a precursor to becoming a student at Illinois and then the Illinois wheelchair racing team.
Today, two years later, Elshorbagy is a kinesiology student in the College of Applied Health Sciences and the newest recipient of the Morse-Hedrick Scholarship, created by Illinois alumna and decorated Paralympian Jean Driscoll in honor of her coaches, Morse and Brad Hedrick.
“Hoda had a very difficult time pursuing her athletic goals, but she kept pushing forward, literally and figuratively. She has an incredibly strong spirit and her determination is beyond compare,” Driscoll said. “Hoda aligns with the spirit of this scholarship through her commitment to excellence, doing the work required to get stronger, trusting her coach and the training process, respecting everyone from teammates to race directors and organizers, and having a fire inside that drives her to be the best she can be. She is very deserving of this scholarship. Hoda has a promising future, and a vision that will undoubtedly touch many lives.”
The Morse-Hedrick scholarship provides financial assistance to undergraduate students with disabilities who participate in athletic programs through Disability Resources and Educational Services. The DRES program has been an incubator for the growth and success of students with disabilities since its inception in 1948. Morse and Hedrick, alumni of the College of Applied Health Sciences, are internationally known for their dedication to coaching and mentoring athletes with disabilities, including numerous Paralympic champions.
“Words cannot describe how it feels to have this support,” said a glowing and grateful Elshorbagy. “I’m surrounded by the best athletes and coaches in this sport, and I have a home away from home at Illinois. I’m living a dream.”
In her brief career on the Illinois team, Hoda has finished third in the Illinois Half Marathon, 10th in the Boston Marathon, seventh in the Chicago Marathon, sixth in the New York City Marathon and will compete in her second Boston Marathon later this month.
But Elshorbagy’s dreams don’t stop there.
Upon the completion of a master’s degree in kinesiology, Elshorbagy has a vision to return to Egypt to help others who face similar challenges that have marked her journey. In her home country, the field of kinesiology is not available for those with disabilities. Elshorbagy wants to change that. Equipped with her kinesiology education from Illinois, she wants to educate and train others with disabilities in Egypt. As a wheelchair athlete, Elshorbagy aims to develop the sport of wheelchair racing and become Egypt’s first qualified wheelchair racing coach.
“Hoda will be successful at whatever she does. She is a woman with determination and vision,” Bleakney said. “Our wheelchair community at Illinois serves as an incubator for her continual growth in the sport. If all goes well, I’m confident we are going to be able to get Hoda onto the Egyptian national team for the 2025 or 2027 World Championships.”
For Elshorbagy, who once sat watching the Paralympic wheelchair racers on TV, the dream of being one of those Paralympians is suddenly within reach. The 2028 games in Los Angeles are on the horizon. Twelve years after that memorable day with her father, Elshorbagy is hopeful to be one of those athletes herself. This time, her father will watch, not on TV, but in person, seeing his daughter represent their country and bringing hope to others like her to do what some say was impossible.
Alexandra Carbajal wants to work with bilingual children as a speech-language pathologist. (Photo provided)
Alexandra Carbajal discovered her passion for her major, Speech and Hearing Science, during her freshman year at the University of Illinois. After that, everything else she found was through drive and dedication.
“I had a speech therapist when I was a kindergartener,” Carbajal said. “So, I know what a speech therapist says—I’ve had that background and familiarity with it. But I never even thought about it as a career until that day.”
The day Carbajal refers to is the day she visited the University of Illinois, after she was accepted as a student, to learn more about the university. Immediately, she was drawn to speech-language pathology, she said. She transferred to the Department of SHS within the College of Applied Health Sciences in her sophomore year.
Now a junior, Carbajal is one of five Humanities in Action scholars at Illinois. The HIA program works with students to remove some of the financial barriers that prevent undergraduate humanities students from taking advantage of community engagement opportunities.
Scholars are matched with a community partner in Champaign-Urbana and work toward a shared goal. As one of these scholars, Carbajal will work closely with a placement that is within her field.
Carbajal’s career goal is to become a bilingual Spanish speech-language pathologist for Spanish- and English-speaking children. She is majoring in speech and hearing science with a concentration in speech-language pathology.
Carbajal is also an intern at The Autism Program, where she participates in play group programs and creates visual resources for individuals on the autism spectrum. Additionally, she had the opportunity to volunteer at two elementary schools as a student teacher aide at the International Prep Academy in Champaign, and as a mentor at Dr. Preston L. Williams Jr. Elementary in Urbana.
“[TAP] has been a really great experience, definitely my favorite experience I’ve had so far. Because I want to be a speech therapist,” Carbajal said, “I know I will be working with the neurodiverse population. So that has really opened my perspective. Seeing their gratitude, they’re always so appreciative, and it just makes me more excited for what I’m going to be going into later.”
Alongside her SHS major, Carbajal also has a minor in Spanish.
“I just love the language,” Carbajal said. “I love the people. I love learning about different cultures, I love learning about how big the needs are for different Spanish communities. But I’ve always known I wanted to work with that population, specifically kids as well. That’s kind of my niche, bilingual kids, I’ve just always seen myself helping them out.”
The immediate effect of her work is one of Carbajal’s favorite parts about the field.
“I’d say just hearing the different stories from the families and the individuals that I work with, I think they all come from different backgrounds,” Carbajal said. “Each week, you get to see the progress that you’ve made. And you get to build a connection with them. And then knowing that you’re helping, not only them, but their families.”
June 03, 2024 | Praachi Mudar, University High School
Praachi Mudar (in pink) said she enjoyed working with Wendy Rogers, center, and the LIFE Home team. (Photo provided)
Before this summer, whenever I thought of robots, I thought of the clunky Disney robot WALL-E and his mission to save mankind. I didn’t have any direct experience interacting with robots or the components involved, so my only point of reference was a kid’s movie. This summer Dr. Wendy Rogers and Dr. Harshal Mahajan gave me the opportunity to intern at the McKechnie Family LIFE Home. I spent my summer with social robots, assistive robots, home appliances, virtual reality and other technology that are used to help people’s daily lives, which completely changed my understanding of robots and technology.
One of my favorite parts of this experience was interacting with the social and therapeutic robots—Moxie, Jibo and Paro. I had engaging conversations with Moxie about celebrity book authors using her generative AI. In the game Circuit Saver, I saved Jibo’s motherboard, and in doing so, learned about its camera and motion sensors. I also experienced Paro’s calming effect when petting it. It was especially exciting to have the freedom to interact with the robots in ways that interested me, like getting to play games with them or talk about my own interests. It was incredible to not only learn about these robots’ capabilities but also see how they can assist people with daily tasks like grabbing pill bottles or talking to their family from miles away.
The most challenging part of this experience was coming into a space I had so little knowledge about. For the first few weeks I struggled to understand basics, like how to start up the robots and navigate the robots’ interfaces, but I was surrounded by patient and knowledgeable people who helped me understand and learn. By the end of the internship, I was knowledgeable about most if not all of the technology. I likely wouldn’t have enjoyed or learned as much if it hadn’t been for the support I got from Dr. Samuel Olatunji, my supervisor; Abbey Paik, an undergrad intern; and Yvona Vlach, the operations coordinator.
As I got more comfortable with the robots, I really enjoyed doing demonstrations and sharing information about the robots with people on tours. Almost all of the technology had an immense amount of research surrounding it. The research I learned about the most displayed the ways these robots can help people who face social isolation and older adults who need help with basic tasks. It was exciting to explore this growing field. Even more so, I enjoyed sharing this knowledge and explaining the research being conducted with these robots at the LIFE Home.
This summer has been an incredible opportunity that I am so grateful to have. It has genuinely made me more interested in the intersectionality of technology and applied health sciences.
Mothers of Mexican descent living in southern California discussed the hardships they faced during the COVID-19 pandemic obtaining food, up-to-date medical information and health care with a team of researchers led by kinesiology and community health professor Sandraluz Lara-Cinisomo. (Photo by Brian L. Stauffer)
Public policies blocked many families of Mexican descent living in the U.S. from accessing vital services such as food and mental health care during the COVID-19 pandemic, even though these communities experienced some of the highest infection and mortality rates.
Thirty-eight perinatal women and mothers of young children were interviewed about the challenges they faced during the pandemic and proposed solutions to better meet the needs of their communities during future large-scale crises in a study led by KCH Associate Professor Sandraluz Lara-Cinisomo.
Co-authors of the study are molecular anthropologist Amy L. Non of the University of California-San Diego; Kimberly D-Anna-Hernandez, a professor of psychology at Marquette University; and U. of I. graduate student Mary Ellen Mendy and undergraduate students Jessica Avalos and Jacqueline Marquez.
The women in the study discussed the stressors they encountered during the pandemic, including their difficulties accessing mental health treatment, child care and food. Their suggestions and insights were used to identify actionable policies and programs that could help meet the needs of Latino communities during future emergencies.
The participants, who were interviewed between September 2021 and December 2022, were part of a longitudinal study that recruited them from a clinic in San Diego, one of the U.S. cities with large Latino populations of Mexican heritage.
The women were about 36 years old on average. Although about 81% of them were born in Mexico, many had resided in the U.S. for 17 years or more. About 31% reported having an annual household income of less than $21,000, while a similar percentage earned $40,000 or more, according to the study.
Lara-Cinisomo said participants faced complex stressors during the pandemic. Half of the women in the study said their families had challenges obtaining food due to loss of income and subsidies such as school lunches, as well as supply chain shortages and consumer stockpiling.
“While early in the pandemic various federal and state programs and policies were deployed to mitigate people’s risks for exposure and enhance families’ economic security, millions of tax-paying families of Mexican descent and other Latino backgrounds were excluded because of restrictions and exclusions set by those programs,” Lara-Cinisomo said.
The researchers found that more than twice as many Spanish speakers reported food-related issues compared with their English-speaking counterparts.
“Policymakers should consider how language barriers increase the risks of Spanish-speaking families losing out on benefits designed to meet their needs, such as CalFresh,” California’s iteration of the federal SNAP food assistance program for low-income people, Lara-Cinisomo said.
“Communicating food and health and safety information in linguistically appropriate media, such as texts, videos or commercials, is vital to ensure accessibility to people with differing literacy and technological skills and should be carefully considered by policymakers.”
Involving trusted sources in disseminating relevant and critical information was also recommended by the participants. For marginalized communities that have experienced historical discrimination and anti-immigrant propaganda, trust in these sources is vital, Lara-Cinisomo said.
“Research has shown that community engagement is critical in emergency preparedness and increases the likelihood of meeting the needs of marginalized communities,” Lara-Cinisomo said. Accordingly, she and her team recommended developing a contingency plan to train culturally and linguistically competent community health workers to cultivate networks of trusted community members to assist in crisis communication efforts.
Some women discussed feeling anxiety about the uncertainties associated with the pandemic, such as lockdowns and conflicting health information. These feelings were exacerbated by employment disruptions, pregnancy, and food access problems, and their concerns extended to family members residing in other households and those living in Mexico, participants told the researchers.
The majority of those interviewed advocated broadening access to food subsidy programs such as WIC and SNAP to offset income losses and food shortages during large-scale crises, along with providing public awareness campaigns about local food banks and assistance programs.
Even though California provides more services for undocumented immigrants—including paid family leave and one year of emergency coverage with mental health services under Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid plan, for pregnant women—caring for their mental health needs was a significant problem for many participants. Fifteen women reported needing mental health care, but twice as many of the English-speaking women mentioned these issues compared with their Spanish-speaking counterparts, the researchers found.
The researchers hypothesized that this difference may have been associated with cultural beliefs, with Spanish-speaking women feeling less comfortable disclosing mental health problems because of stigmatization compared with those who spoke English. Or, it may have been that those who spoke Spanish were more resilient or more concerned about immediate needs such as food assistance, the team said.
Participants recommended broadening access to mental health services for mothers and their families, promoting awareness with providers and patients, and disseminating mental health information and resources through videos and other media and via programs such as WIC.
Many of the women—largely those who spoke only Spanish—reported difficulties obtaining personal protective equipment and sanitization supplies because of shortages, consumer stockpiling, and price gouging, in keeping with other studies that showed low-income and marginalized communities were disproportionately affected.
Although the study sample was small, Lara-Cinisomo said it highlighted critical needs for responsive, culturally appropriate policies and programs to ensure the well-being of Mexican-descent perinatal women and mothers of young children during public health crises.
Lara-Cinisomo discussed the team’s findings and study participants’ recommendations during a virtual Briefing on Perinatal Health and Well-being on April 3 hosted by the journal Health Affairs, which published the study.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s College of Applied Health Sciences is proud to announce a significant milestone in its ongoing commitment to advancing health sciences education and research. Effective Aug. 16, the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health will officially change its name to the Department of Health and Kinesiology.
The new name better reflects significant changes in our disciplines, research interests, and educational mission. Health and Kinesiology allows for a broader, more inclusive representation of a department that focuses on multiple aspects of health and physical activity in a diverse society. It also honors our legacy as leaders in the field of health and kinesiology, while pointing the way forward to a future that is both dynamic and innovative.
The name change was a decision that was made based on goals highlighted in the KCH Strategic Plan and upon the recommendation of the KCH Restructuring Task Force. It was supported by multiple stakeholders and was recently approved by the College of Applied Health Sciences, UIUC Senate, and Board of Trustees.
Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell, dean of the College of Applied Health Sciences, expressed enthusiasm about the department’s name change, saying, “The renaming of our department to Health and Kinesiology aligns with our strategic vision of fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and addressing the multifaceted aspects of health and wellness. This change reflects our commitment to providing innovative education, conducting impactful research, and serving our communities.”
HK Department Head Kim Graber said, “As the department evolves to better reflect the dynamic landscape of health and movement sciences, we believe the change to Health and Kinesiology not only embraces our commitment to comprehensive wellness but also underscores our dedication to advancing research, education and outreach in these vital areas.”
The Department of Health and Kinesiology offers a wide range of undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs aimed at preparing students for careers in health promotion, exercise science, public health, rehabilitation, and related fields. With world-class faculty and state-of-the-art facilities, the department equips students with the knowledge, skills, and practical experience needed to excel in diverse healthcare settings.
