Brittni Rufus is a graduate student pursuing a master’s in public administration. Rufus is from Dallas and adores the field she will work in.
Rufus’s ideal career is to support others, especially through hardships.
“I’m planning to work in occupational therapy,” Rufus said.
Occupational therapy is a subsector of health care that helps people with physical, sensory or cognitive problems. The industry helps an individual regain independence and break barriers that may affect someone’s social, physical and emotional needs.
“So basically, it’s just a field where those who have disabilities or impairments that affect their lifestyle or day-to-day,” Rufus said. “You basically just help them try and figure out the best rehabilitation strategies and what can be done to better improve their life. So like, people who have strokes and lose the ability to use their hands, you might, give them modifications in some way to help them shower or whatever else the case may be.”
After a day at the trampoline park, Rufus was inspired to become an occupational therapist.
“I was at one of those trampoline parks many years ago in, like, 2018, and there was this little boy named Charlie,” Rufus said. “He had autism and was struggling to get down from one of the jungle gym-type things. So, I helped him down, and then I met with his mom. She was just thanking me for helping him and started telling me a little bit about his story. She was telling me about his occupational therapists that help him, and so I thought it sounded pretty cool.”
One of Rufus’ favorite parts of pursuing a master’s in administration is the research of the field.
“I love the research,” Rufus said. “I think learning how to integrate the research into different aspects of the field and trying to understand it,” Rufus said. “A professor who will assign like 15 articles and then 200 pages of the book to read, but I guess simplifying that down, I liked to understand the field better.”
After graduating from WT, Rufus will attend occupational therapy school in Austin. Rufus decided to come to WT for her undergraduate degree and stayed for her master’s after committing to the softball team as an outfielder. Since coming to WT, Rufus has been a part of many different things around campus.
“Two years ago, I was able to speak on a Student Success panel, and I think that actually helped me out with my resume for occupational therapy school because the admissions board in Austin commented on being part of it,” Rufus said. “I’ve done volunteering opportunities and have gotten so many volunteer hours from different things. And then softball as well, I think I’ve been able to engage more with the community, you know, seeing the younger athletes come to our games and want to get hitting lessons or fielding lessons. So I think I’ve been involved in a lot of community engagement at WT.”
One of Rufus’ favorite parts of WT is the community on campus.
“The community is great,” Rufus said. “I think it’s just really tight-knit and there is a lot of support here.”
Aside from academics, Rufus enjoys playing the piano, painting and hiking.
Rufus believes you should remember to do things you enjoy instead of only focusing on things to further your academic or professional future.
“You should enjoy the little things,” Rufus said. “I feel like it’s easy to get caught up in where you want to be and where you want to go. But I feel like since coming to WT, it’s just a big change, and you know, you should enjoy the little pieces of Canyon.”
