A Change of Direction

For as long as she can remember, Bailey Cerveny (‘19) knew she wanted to go into occupational therapy.

“In high school, I didn’t really know what my options were,” she said. “I knew I wanted to help people, and it was just in my head that this was the direction I was going to take. I didn’t even question it.”

She wrote about this career path in her scholarship applications and confidently declared it as her major when she came to Nebraska Wesleyan. But, after staying on that course for two years, the winds suddenly changed direction.

It was her junior year, and Bailey had secured an internship at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln. She expected the experience to simply further her existing career path. But she soon came to realize that a successful internship can also make you question that path and introduce you to new possibilities.

From the moment her internship began, Bailey knew she was in for an eye-opening experience.

“My first area was in the traumatic brain unit, which exposed me to situations I had never imagined facing. Coming from a small town and a pretty sheltered upbringing, it was a shock to experience what I was seeing—severe accidents, homelessness, victims of gang violence, kids with parents who had been paralyzed. I remember calling my mom and telling her I didn’t know if I could do this.”

But Bailey soon began to thrive outside of her comfort zone. She learned to separate work from her emotions. And she learned to channel her desire to help others into an ability to think analytically and ask the right questions.

It was in the traumatic brain unit that Bailey realized her growing interest in the psychological side of therapy. She had already been taking some psychology classes for her major and was enjoying them. But her internship solidified psychology as an alternate and viable path.

“The brain is the one area of the human body we still don’t fully understand, and that fascinates me,” she said. “I want to explore what motivates human behavior and how people process tragic events. I always knew I wanted to help others one day, specifically children. I realized I could still do that but approach it from a different angle.”

So Bailey switched her major to psychology. Thanks to the guidance and support of her NWU advisors and professors, she says that transition has been smooth. And she expects to graduate on time.

“That’s one of the great things about a liberal arts education—that personalized attention to each student’s individual journey. It’s so important to have someone there for you who recognizes what you’re meant to do in life, sometimes before you realize it yourself.”

She even remembers an advisor telling her before her internship, “You may realize that [occupational therapy] isn’t for you, and that’s okay.”

For Bailey, that has been one of the greatest lessons Nebraska Wesleyan taught her. “I understand now that it’s okay to change your mind. Changing your mind and taking a different path takes courage, and Wesleyan empowered me to do that.”

Bailey plans to go to graduate school to study school psychology. Where ever that takes her, those winds that led her to this career path will likely bring her back to Nebraska in the end.

“I definitely want to end up here in Lincoln,” she said. “It just seems right that you should give back to the community that helped you find your way in the first place.”