Certified!

I know some of you followed along as I wrote my Master's report and finished graduate school, but those who are newer to my blog might need a little background. I am a speech-language pathologist (SLP; man, it feels good to say that), and in order to become an SLP, you have to obtain a Masters degree. That's not all though. Once you have your Masters, you have to complete an internship of sorts. It's called a Clinical Fellowship (CF) in the world of speech-language pathology. It must be a minimum of 36 weeks, you have to work a minimum of 35 hours per week, and you have to obtain a minimum of 1,260 clinical hours to complete your CF. Once you've completed your CF, you can apply for full state licensure (rather than an intern license) and national certification (your "C's" in SLP speak).

I became painfully aware of those required 1,260 hours last week when I received a letter notifying me that my CF came to a grand total of 1,258 hours. I did, in fact, work way more than the minimum requirements; we just filled out a portion of the application forms incorrectly. After much fretting from me and my wonderful CF supervisor (I honestly couldn't have handpicked a better supervisor for this experience), we finally got it straightened out yesterday, and today I am certified!

And I am SO excited! I honestly didn't expect to be quite so happy about it, but when my case manager told me he approved me this morning, I jumped up and down. It's been a long time coming, made sweeter by the hiccups I've experienced along the way. I feel so thankful.