Student Representative: Colorado State University

Name: Danika Morrison, OTS

What do you love about OT?

I love the endless opportunities that OT has to offer to us as (future) practitioners and to our clients who have such diverse goals and backgrounds. I am excited about the emerging practice areas and seeing how OT can fit into places it hasn’t been before. OTs have a vast knowledge and breadth and I am excited to join this incredible group of people who value person-centeredness!

I have previously worked with individuals with disabilities in recreation and employment services, and knew I wanted to pursue this for the rest of my life. OT was a way for me to get the training and education to make a career out of empowering individuals with disabilities to meet their goals. I love how OT is an evidence based practice, in such a holistic way, and am excited to have a career that honors and upholds that in the day-to-day. In the future, my partner and I (a mechanical engineer and a future OT), want to combine our talents and create an adaptive outdoor organization that provides a place and equipment for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to engage in adventure type sports such as mountain biking, so I am hoping to implement my OT skills in big ways!

I have always been an advocate for myself and those that I work with and having the ability to be a part of OTAC allows me to do just that in an informed way. It is exciting for me to have the opportunity to invest in Colorado and especially Colorado OT during my time here and help make a difference for OTs, understand state funding, and comprehend and communicate to my peers how legislation impacts our services. I am looking forward to being a liaison between OTAC and CSU.

Mountain biking, fly-fishing, skiing, you name it, Colorado has got it! I am from Washington state, so the similarities in things to do are helping me feel right at home here.