Taylor Burt attributes her volunteer experiences at Grenfell Campus and the flexibility of her program to her successful acceptance to a prestigious Canadian audiology program.
Burt, who hails from Bishop's Falls, will graduate with a B.Sc. (honours) in psychology at next week's spring convocation. She'll begin a master of clinical science in audiology at the University of Western Ontario in September.
"I received lots of volunteer experience with hearing at Grenfell that was essential to getting accepted," said Ms. Burt, adding she also got the opportunity to do research in the field with an interdisciplinary research project combining sound research and cultural geography.
She conducted the fieldwork under the supervision of Dr. Benjamin Zendel, Faculty of Medicine, and Canada Research Chair in Aging and Auditory Neuroscience. Dr. Zendel ran a state-of-the-art auditory electroencephalography (EEG) laboratory at Grenfell Campus called the Cognitive Aging and Auditory Neuroloscience Laboratory (CAANLab), where Ms. Burt volunteered.
"I also gained plenty of experience with hearing testing through my honours project, which focused on the cognitive impact of simulated hearing loss on young adults," said Ms. Burt, adding that it was the flexibility of her Psychology 4951 advisor that allowed her to focus on this subject. "I'm so happy that Dr. Peter Stewart, my advisor, allowed me the creative control to pursue my interests. I was also only able to complete this project because of the Aging Research Centre lab, which I used to do all of my testing."
Ms. Burt was the recipient of the Tom Daniels Application Assistance Prize, which allowed her to apply to several audiology programs.
"I was unaware of the huge cost of just applying to these programs, so I'm super thankful for that scholarship," she said.
Following convocation, Ms. Burt hopes to conduct summer workshops on "Living with Hearing Loss in Close Relationships", "Learning about Hearing Loss and Hearing Technology" and "Living with Hearing Loss in your Community" in the Grand Falls-Windsor area. She is awaiting news regarding an Ida Institute grant that she applied for with the Genomic Research And Development Centre for Health; the grant proposal is titled "Realizing the benefits of group learning and support for hearing loss in rural Newfoundland" The Ida Institute, located in Denmark, is an independent, non-profit organization working to integrate person-centered care in hearing rehabilitation.
And what happens after Ms. Burt graduates from Western?
"I hope to come back to the island to work, specifically in central Newfoundland where they are currently experiencing a massive shortage of audiologists in the hospital," she said.
For more information about Grenfell's psychology programs, visit www.grenfell.mun.ca/psychology.
