Hannah chooses right path

By Fiona Gowers

Third year UQ speech pathology student Hannah Quick returned to familiar territory to complete her six-week block placement.

Born in Toowoomba - and subsequently spending six years in the Garden City - Hannah was thrilled the Speech Language Pathology team at the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office was able to supervise her practical experience.

“I was really happy when I got Toowoomba as it was my first option for my placement,” said Hannah who had been under COVID restrictions for much of her degree.

“I have had to do most of my university learning online so now I am really enjoying doing the more practical face-to-face activities like going out to schools.

“I wasn’t sure what to expect out in the field but it has been even better than I hoped.

“I’ve really loved my time working at the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office and with the 31 schools in the Dioceses; it has provided me with so much diversity as part of my placement.“

Hannah had the opportunity to spend time at one school per day seeing about three to four students formally.

“I spend an hour or so with every student doing an assessment of their speech and language,“ she said.

“And then there are some informal chats with classroom teachers and learning support teachers discussing different students. And then we provide some recommendations to the classroom teachers based on what we found in our assessment session.”

Having switched ambitions from primary school teaching to speech pathology halfway through year 12, Hannah said she appreciated the opportunity to work with young students.

“Experiencing some of the smaller schools has been amazing,“ she said.

“We visited St Patrick’s School in Allora. I’ve never been in a school that small, I really enjoyed it.

“And, it was also such a great experience being able to see some of the bigger Toowoomba schools as a contrast to some of the smaller schools in the Toowoomba Diocese.”

Hannah said the speech language pathology team and office staff supported her during her time at the Toowoomba Catholic Schools.

“The team has provided me with as much experience as they possibly could. From the moment I got here, they encouraged me to be hands-on, engaged and doing what I needed to do to get the most out of my placement.“

Alex Borlai, a speech language pathology advisor at the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office loved having Hannah as part of her team and enjoyed the opportunity to provide her with experience that will help Hannah in her future career.

“We loved having the opportunity to support Hannah in applying the theory she learnt at university into practice.

Hannah delivered effective speech pathology services to local, rural and remote schools.

At Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office, we have the privilege of inviting our students on school visits to rural and remote towns, such as, Cunnamulla, Quilpie and Charleville.

Hannah thoroughly enjoyed this unique experience and developed lifelong skills.“

When Hannah was asked if she would rec- ommend this placement she didn’t hesitate in her answer. “I would 100 per cent recommend this placement to other students and it has helped me to know that I have chosen the right career for me.”