Although he didn’t expect to win, as a former English teacher who had done a lot of writing in his career, Luke Damiani MS ‘23, thought he could do pretty well in the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Student Ethics Essay Award (SEEA) competition.
And, he did do well. Well enough to take the top prize.
“I heard about the contest through the professional ethics class that we had,” said Damiani, who recently graduated from the Speech-Language Pathology master’s program at Salus University. “The professor encouraged all of us to enter and I hadn’t heard about it before then. It seemed like a great opportunity.”
The SEEA program is conducted as part of ASHA's efforts to enhance ethics education activities. The goal of the program is to encourage students to think about ethical decision-making and create greater awareness of situations that could pose ethical dilemmas as they prepare to start careers in audiology, speech-language pathology, or speech, language, and hearing sciences.
For his effort, Damiani was awarded one student registration to the ASHA convention; a monetary prize ($1,000, $750, and $500 for first, second, and third place, respectively); certificates of achievement; and a one-year membership into the National Student Speech-Language Hearing Association (NSSLHA).
Originally from Telford, Pennsylvania, Damiani graduated from Millersville University in Millersville, Pennsylvania, with a degree in English. He then taught for four years before deciding to return to grad school for speech-language pathology.
“I enjoyed certain aspects of teaching, like working with people and helping people. So, I was looking for something that was similar to teaching in that respect but was a little bit more of a specialized field where I could maybe work with smaller groups of people or one-on-one with others,” said Damiani. “I considered a number of different options in the rehabilitative sciences and after doing some observations and shadowing, I really felt drawn to speech pathology.”
He chose Salus, he said, for a number of reasons: its graduate focused programs; that the programs were medically based; the opportunity for interprofessional learning and collaboration; classes that weren’t offered in some other programs, such as neuroscience; an anatomy class with a cadaver lab; and the early clinical experience offered by all University programs.
“When I was looking at the different schools, there was also a podcast, too, where Bob Serianni (SLP program chair and director) was talking to current students that really drew me to the program. I felt like it was a good place for me,” he said.
The essay topic, determined by the ASHA, was “Integrating Ethics into Professional Practice.” Damiani spent two weeks writing and polishing the 1,200-word essay before he submitted it for consideration.
Although he took time out to return to grad school and pursue a different career path, he’s excited to get back into the working world and start his new career. He has secured a position working for Powerback Rehabilitation at the Belvedere, a skilled nursing facility in Chester, Pennsylvania. There he will be working with adults with dysphasia, cognitive disorders and with those who have suffered strokes.
Winning the essay contest and the money that came with it was a nice graduation present for Damiani as he re-enters the working world. “I was shocked, I was not expecting to win,” he said. “But I was pleasantly surprised and very excited.”
