My name is Fjoralba Hoxha and I am currently a student at  New York City College of Technology (City Tech) majoring in Legal Assistant studies. After a lot of research in the library and the College Catalog , I figured out that this major won’t give me the best career in my future. What I want to major in is Physical Therapy, known as PT, because of the good salary, job security, and being able to be a movement expert. In this essay I will state some background information about this major and the career it provides also I will state supporting evidence on why this is the best career for me.

To gain more of an understanding of my decision to be in a Physical Therapy major I think it will be better if i start with some facts about this career. Physical therapists are specialists in treating disorders of the human body primarily by physical means. “Whether the condition results from injury, disease or other causes, they focus primarily on those individuals who have disturbed function related to the musculoskeletal, neurological, cardiopulmonary and integumentary (skin) systems.” (College Catalog, 187)  The field requires good communication and problem-solving skills, and the ability to perform  physical activity. To be a Physical therapist you should enjoy working with people and outside a traditional office environment, which I personally would love because I enjoy being surrounded by lots of people. Based on the KU Medical Center The University of Kansas website “The degree required to become a practicing physical therapist in the U.S today is the Doctor of Physical Therapy(DPT) All states and territories in the United States also require a license to practice physical therapy. Each State requires the National Board Examination (NPTE) but each state may additional criteria for obtaining licensure.” (web)

The first reason why I want to get a degree in Physical therapy is because of the good salary. According to Bureau of labor statistics “A physical therapist earns an average of $38.39 per hour which  leads to $79.860 per year” (web). One of the great things about this career is that for the most part, the frequency of finding a job is really high, but this also depends on the field in this industry that you want to work in. This kind of salary will provide a great financial stability especially because money has become more essential to everyday life.

As a second reason why I want to get a degree in Physical Therapy is because of Job Security. For Americans looking for a career in a struggling job market and down economy, a career in physical therapy could be the perfect answer. “The demand for physical therapists is expected to spike upward by an astonishing 30% between 2008 and 2018 which is a much quicker rate than average. Currently, there are approximately 185,500 licensed physical therapists in the United States, and that number is expected to jump to 241,700 over the next 10 years. Forbes ranked physical therapists as having 1 of “The Ten Happiest Jobs,” according to articles published in 2013 and 2011.” (Forbes) Physical therapists also have high job satisfaction according to the 2007 results of the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center survey, as reported in The Washington Post. More than three-quarters of physical therapists polled reported to be “very satisfied” with their occupations. Physical therapists were second only to clergy and the only health care professionals in the top 5.

My last and more enjoyable reason to why I want to be a Physical Therapist is to be a movement expert. What is more interesting than knowing how can every part of the body get healed  and how it got hurt in the first place. Physical therapists are highly educated experts in the movement and function of the human body. The goal of a physical therapist is to give the patient’s ability to move, reduce pain, and prevent disability. Physical therapy is an essential element of patient care. Depending on the particular needs of a patient, physical therapists may mobilize a joint or massage a muscle to promote proper movement and function just basing on exercises etc. “Physical therapists may use other techniques such as electrotherapy, ultrasound (high-frequency waves that produce heat), hot packs, and ice in addition to other treatments when appropriate” (web).

To make this essay and my research more interesting I had to interview any professor/doctor with the information that I needed for this major and career. Luckily for me a friend of mine suggested I email professor/doctor Joseph Hale from Queens College which was very kind to answer some of my questions even though he did not know me at all. One of the first questions that I asked him was “Professor Hale, are you happy with your career?” He replied saying that it took him a lot of work and effort to get to where he is now, but he states “It was all worth it!”. He also tells me what is required for this major and for a future job which were lots of exams such as National Board Examination which every states needs it. What got me thinking was when he wrote to me “I hope you have the same passion about this career in the future as you do now because trust me this career needs a lot of patients and lots of reading.” Am I ready for this major? Am I wasting my time? What if I never get a job? I’m sure I’m not the only one with these type of questions in the head but this is why this research and especially this interview with a very kind professor helped me a lot. Just like doctor Hale said “Patience is everything for any field in life!”

Not knowing what is going to happen in the future terrifies me. Even though online research, college catalogs, interviews helped me a lot, sometimes I think that there are more facts that i should know about before taking a major step in life such as choosing your career. College is a whole new world for me and so far is going great, but I just hope that by the end of my 4th year when I’m kissing my diploma and smiling to my friends and family, I will be proud of myself and also make my family proud as well.

Work Cited

Hale,Joseph.Personal Interview. December 03 2014.

Hale,Joseph. Personal Interview. “Patience is everything for any field in life!” 03 December 2014.

Hale, Joseph. Personal Interview. “I hope you have the same passion about this career in the future as you do now because trust me this career needs a lot of patients and lots of reading.” 03 December 2014

New York City College of Technology 2012-2013 Academic Catalog.Web. 27Nov. 2014.

United States,  Department of labor: Bureau of labor statistics “Physical Therapy“. Bureau of labor statistics. Dept of labor. 8 January , 2014. 01 December, 2014.

United States, Department of Labor: Bureau of labor statistics “Physical therapists may use other techniques such as electrotherapy, ultrasound (high-frequency waves that produce heat), hot packs, and ice in addition to other treatments when appropriate” Novemeber 2014

United States, Forbes Website. “The demand for physical therapists is expected to spike upward by an astonishing 30% between 2008 and 2018 which is a much quicker rate than average. Currently, there are approximately 185,500 licensed physical therapists in the United States, and that number is expected to jump to 241,700 over the next 10 years. Forbes ranked physical therapists as having 1 of “The Ten Happiest Jobs,” 2013- 2011. December 03 2014

Introduction:

In  this  project  “Writing  my  brain”  I  will  have  the  opportunity  to  go  over  my  daily  thoughts  one  by  one  and  reflect  on  them. Throughout  this  project  we  had  the  opportunity  to  write  down  our  daily  thoughts,  pick  out  what  was  most  important  and  take  photos  that  represented  that  moment.  Then  we  had  to write  an  essay  about  our  daily  thoughts,  quoting  ourselves  or  others,  basing  on  the  photos  etc.  This  is  my  project  and  I  hope  you  enjoy  it.
THINKING in WRITING

FRIDAY 19th

– I am so sleepy. I seriously don’t want to go to work today. Should i take a full shower or just a body shower?

-Okay I’m taking forever to find out what to wear I’m late already.

-This bus is taking forever to come, I’m just going  to  walk there, I’ll get there in time hopefully.

-Did i text “goodmorning” to my mom today? okay, let me have a quick chat with her and tell her what’s new.

-It’s so busy here at work! And the manager is driving me crazy today. Note to self: next week when I’m off I’m going to find a new job, i think the mall is hiring.

-Finally lunch break! Can’t wait to get home and meet my boyfriend to help him shopping! Haven’t seen him for a week already.

-Since I’m going by the city what should i wear? Is it cold? Skirt or jeans?

-I had a great time on my way to 34th street. Now i hope this mall has all the stuff he needs because I’m not planning to go to e different mall everyday.

-He is driving me crazy! He likes everything and then he likes nothing. Im craving Gyros. I want to leave.

-Finally now I’m full! That gyro was heaven. Now I’m happy and full of energy

-It’s so much traffic! But at least we have time to talk and make plans for the weekend.

-Finally home I’m so tired but I have to clean and cook for my brother. I have no idea what he wants for tonight, pasta with mushrooms perhaps. I’ll just make that, is easy and it doesn’t take forever.

-Now I’m in bed. I have work tomorrow early in the morning and i have to get a good sleep. I’ll talk to my mom again and tell her what i did today, hopefully she’s awake.

-So i need to find that new job, i need to help my brother to pay the rent, lately, he’s been paying it by himself. And I’ll try to save money so i could go back to my country to visit my family in summer. I miss them so much.

-Tomorrow i have so much to do! work, go out, call my phone company, call the internet company, buy food groceries , go over the homeworks and who knows what else comes in the way.

Thinking  Visually

Work

Family time

Cooking  time

Thinking Rhetorically and Reflectively:

In  this  project  I  have  the  opportunity  to  share  with  you  my  daily  thoughts  and  to  reflect  on  them.  My  name  is  Fjoralba  Hoxha  and  I’m  a  student  in  City  College  Of  Technology,  better  known  as  City  Tech. I  am  seventeen  years  old  and  I  came  to  America  about  three  years  ago  from  a  beautiful,  small country  in Europe  called  Albania. I  moved  here  to  get  a  better  education  and  to  be  honest  I’m  very  proud  of  myself.  Even though  I  was  going  through  rough  times  I  managed  to  graduate  High  School  with  a  high  GPA  while  going  to  work  at  the  same  time, and  now  I  started  college  majoring  on  Paralegal  Assistance  1^st  year  and  so  far  is  going  great. All  I  want  in  this  life  is  to  become  somebody  so  I  could   have  a  bright  future  ahead  of  me  and  to  make  my  loved  ones   happy  and  proud.  And  I’m  a  believer  as  long  as  I  push  myself  and  never  give  up  no  matter  how  hard  it  might  be. On  the  other  hand  I  argue  that  my  daily  thoughts  most  of  the  time  are  just  focused  on  the  present  and  not  much  about  the  future.

One  of  the  reasons  why  I  think   my  thoughts  are  focused  only  in  the  present  and  not  in  the  future  is  because  I’m  always  rushing  and  most  of  the  time  busy  so  I  don’t  have  time  to  think  much   about  what  is  going  to  happen  later  on. To  be  honest  while  I  was  writing  down  my  thoughts  almost  every  half  of  an  hour  I  was  thinking   this  project  assigned  to  me  was  pointless  since  a lot  of  people,  in  this  case  me  do  not  have  time  to  pick  up  a pencil  and  write  about  our  thoughts.  But  later  on  while  I  was  reading  over  what  I  wrote  I  realized   I  do  not  think  about  important  stuff  while  I’m  doing  something.  It’s  actually  the  total  opposite,  I  just  want  to  get  stuff  done  and  move  to  the  next  step.  I  also  realized    the  only  time  I  think  deeper  about  my  future  is  when  I’m  alone  at  night   laying   in  bed  and  making  plans.  This  fact  made  me  feel  so  bad  and  made  me  realize   I  need  improvement  otherwise  when  life  hits  me  with  something  serious  when  I  least expect  it,  I  wouldn’t  be  able  to  get  out  of  it  if  my  thoughts  aren’t  at  the  right  place.

Let  me  talk  about  an  example.  On  my  daily  thoughts  I  wrote “ It’s so busy here  at  work! And  the  manager  is  driving  me  crazy  today. Note  to self: next  week  when  I’m  off  I’m  going  to  find  a  new  job, I  think  the  mall  is  hiring.” (fjori96. Part 5.web)  The  way  I  see  it  on  this  sentence  the  important  thought  is  “… when I’m  off  I’m  going  to  find  a  new  job,  I  think  the  mall  is  hiring.” Now  you  would  think  that  later  on  I  got  more  information  about  the  places  that  were  hiring,  what  day  exactly  should  I  go  etc.  but  guess  what?  Based  on  my  second  sentence  written  by  me  not  more  than  thirty  minutes  later  states  “Finally  lunch  break! Can’t  wait  to  get  home  and  meet  my  boyfriend to  help  him  shopping! Haven’t  seen  him  for  a  week  already” (fjori96. Part6.web)  This  shows  me  that  my  thoughts  at  a  very  busy  time  are  just  momentarily  and  not  actual  plans  because  if  it  was  then  on  my  lunch  break  I  would  do  or  think  something  more  important  then  what  I’m  going  to  do  for  entertainment  later  on.  This  fact  makes  me  realize  that  I  should  pay  more  attention  to what  I  think.  Why  I  think  that  way?  And  what  should  I  do  to  accomplish  whatever  I  was  thinking.

I  personally  believe  that  another  reason  why  I  attend  to  not  pay  much  of  attention  to  my  thoughts  is  because  I  get  distracted  very  quickly  by  entertainment devices,  websites  and  people.  Even  though  I  might  be  busy  at  work  or  in  the  house  or  with  homeworks,  parts  of  my  mind  are  thinking  about  what  is  new  on  Instagram  or  what  is  new  on  Facebook.  Did  someone  hit  me  up?  Did  anyone  send  me  a  friend  request? These  type  of  thoughts  make  you  forget  the  important  stuff  or  get  distracted  and  also   lose  focus. And  I  am  pretty  sure  that  I  am  not  the  only  one,  based  on  what  I  see  everyday  on  the  streets,  I  rarely  see  two  people  making  a conversation,  most  of  the  time  I  see  people  of  any  age  keeping  their  head  down  and  being  focused  on  the  electronic  device  and  not  what  is  actually  going  on  around  them. And  obviously  I  am  one  of  them  and  this  makes  me  sick.  Since  I  do  not  live  with  my  parents  but  only  with  my  brother,  I  attend  to  always  check  my  phone  and  see if  one  of  my  family  members  texted  me.  Me  talking  to  my  mom  is  an  everyday  routine  and   I’m  very  happy  that  it  is. To  be  honest  she  means  more  than  the  world  to  me  and  I  thank  God  that  now  a days  we  have  every  type  of  way  to  communicate  with  our  loved  ones  to  a  different  continent.  (hoxha.Photo2.“familytime”)  But  then  again  even  though   for  me   talking  to  my  mother  and  family  is  like  therapy, it  requires  time  and  effort. Because  maybe  at  that  time  I  could’ve  been  doing  some  house  work, cook  for  my brother  or  use  the  extra  time  to  study  and  accomplish  the  important  assignments  without  rushing.

As  I  said  on  my  first  paragraph  I  noticed  that  my  deep  thoughts  and  actual plans  for  the  future  happen  at  night  when  I’m  alone  and  around  me  is  quiet. For  example  on  my  day  of  thoughts  I  wrote  “So I  need  to  find  that  new  job, I  need  to  help  my  brother  to  pay  the  rent, lately , he’s  been  paying it  by  himself. And  I’ll  try  to  save  money  so  I  could  go  back  to  my  country to  visit  my  family  in the  summer. I  miss  them  so  much” (fjori96.part14.web) and  also  about  thirty  minutes  later  I  wrote  “Tomorrow  I  have so much to do! Work , go  out,  call  my  phone  company,  call  the  internet  company,  buy  food groceries ,  go  over  the  homeworks  and  who  knows  what  else  comes  in  the  way.” (fjori96.part15.web) I  read  these  two  statements  over  and  over  the  day  after  and  realized  that  in  around  one  hour  I  only  thought  about  my  desires,  thoughts, and   plans  for  my  future.  This  makes  me  question  myself  why  don’t  I  focus  more  on  my  thoughts  like  I  do  when  I’m  alone  at night. The  first  impression  that  you  give  means  a  lot  in  life  and  if  people  see you  as  someone  who  is  always  rushing,  moving  and  not  thinking  twice  before they  do  something,  well, definitely  you  won’t  give  a  good  first  expression  and  that  fact  does  not  help  you  move  forward  in  life.

In  conclusion, I  believe  that  this  project  will  change  the  way  I  think  for  sure.  Going  over  all  my  thoughts  made  me  realize  that  my  thoughts  are  more  focused  at  the  present  and  not  much  at  the  future, except  when  I’m  alone.  Which  from  now  on  even  though  I  might  be  very  busy  I  will always  try  to  pay  attention  to  my  own  thoughts  and  try  to  accomplish  them  as  soon  as  I  can.  Because  only  like  this  I  will  be able  to  accomplish   my  goal  in  life.

                                                                  Work cited

Fjori96 [Fjoralba Hoxha].”Re:Project1:Thinking in Writing.”   Openlab.English1101D346. English Compostion1 Fall 2014.Web.15 October 2014.

Hoxha,Fjoralba “Work” Flickr.web.15October2014

Hoxha,Fjoralba “Family time” Flickr.web. 15October2014

Hoxha,Fjoralba “Cooking time” Flickr.web. 15 October2014