Professional Travel Grants for Graduate Students
2017-2018
My 1st VAASL Conference
6 years
Rebecca Caufman
This year’s Virginia Association of School Librarians (VAASL) Conference was held in Williamsburg, Virginia on November 29 through December 1st. Attending this conference is a requirement for each graduate student in Longwood’s School Librarianship program. Since it was my first time attending the conference I got a special tag for my name badge and invitation to a tea where I got free breakfast and free books! The first day was jammed packed with activities that started at 9am and went to 9pm. I got ideas on being a first year librarian, makerspaces, digital resources, copyright law, and video projects. I ended that day at the Longwood University alumni gathering in a room that was jammed packed full of Lancers. My second day at the conference I learned more about makerspaces, how to have a student driven library, and met some amazing authors – Alan Gratz and Victoria Jamieson. Hearing these authors’ stories was my favorite part of the conference. I am thankful that Longwood requires students to attend this conference. I see the conference as an important way to get inspired, encouraged, and connected with others in the field.
SHAV 2018
7 years
by Leah Horton
in 2017-2018
Going to the Speech-Language-Hearing Association of Virginia (SHAV) 2018 Conference was quite the experience. For the past few months, we have all been working diligently on perfecting our posters and presenting skills. Turns out all of that hard work paid off because Jalyn Taylor, Seraphina Chabinec, and I won first place for student poster presentations! Through my presenting at SHAV, I learned how to be confident in my work, and converse with professionals about my research in a professional way. I was also able to attend multiple sessions that not only taught me about topics that will impact my future practice, but that also got me excited about the career I have chosen. Let me know if you need some information about over-the-counter hearing aids!
SHAV Conference 2018
7 years
I’m so fortunate to have attended the Speech-Language- Hearing Association of Virginia conference in Williamsburg! During this conference, I learned about a variety of topics including augmentative-alternative communication, selective mutism, and collaboration within the school system. The session that was most interesting to me was about selective mutism, which according to the presenter, is a childhood anxiety disorder that inhibits a child’s inability to speak and communicate within social settings. The presenter discussed how the disorder gave the child “feelings of death” whenever they were required to speak and she provided some helpful therapy techniques that therapists can use when working with these children to help them overcome some of that anxiety. In addition to the sessions, I was also able to network and meet some great people who shared the same or similar interests. They provided me with ideas and techniques that I can utilize in my practice. I am so incredibly grateful to Longwood Graduate Studies for providing me the grant to attend this conference and I can’t wait to go again next year!
SHAV reflection
7 years
After attending the SHAV conference and the different sessions that were offered, I expanded not only my knowledge in speech-language pathology (SLP), but also in audiology. I learned more in depth about over-the-counter hearing aids and the implications it has on our community. It was really interesting to hear about audiology from actual audiologists’ perspectives, and not just SLPs. Since I am the Graduate Assistant for audiology, I feel this will broaden my knowledge when assisting our audiologist with patients since I have not only a more broad knowledge of this field, but also because of the details I learned from this conference. I hope to be able to advocate for my field of speech by informing future clients and/or professionals I collaborate with the importance we have on audiology.
SHAV Conference 2018
7 years
I had the opportunity to attend the Speech-Language and Hearing Association of Virginia (SHAV) conference from March 22nd – 24th, in Williamsburg VA.
As an undergraduate student I had always heard about the SHAV conference and how it was a fantastic experience, it was great finally experiencing it for myself as a first year graduate student! I got to attend different sessions throughout the weekend and present my student research to SLPs across Virginia.
I attended 4 sessions: “Social Pragmatic Communication Disorders: Best practice for intervention,” “Integrating Early Intervention into the Classroom,” “Using Applied Behavior Analysis to increase session outcomes,” and “Getting started in Telepractice.” These sessions gave me insights to portions of our field that I have not had the chance to explore yet, and ideas for implementing practices into my current therapy sessions.
On Friday, my research team presented our poster in the Graduate Research Poster Session. 6 Longwood teams competed with other graduate-level students from CSD programs across the state. The poster session was great practice for presenting at Longwood’s Graduate Student Research Symposium in April. Professionals across the state gave my research team wonderful insights and got us thinking about new directions for future research.
I am excited to attend the SHAV conference as a fully licensed SLP in the not-too-far future!
SHAV 2018- Williamsburg
7 years
by Colleen Johnson
in 2017-2018
Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the SHAV (Speech-Language-Hearing Association of Virginia) Conference with my classmates. This was the first of many professional conferences and conventions I will attend throughout my career as an SLP, and I am so happy to report that it was a wonderful experience. I attended several lectures on topics including dysphagia, language disorders, and professionalism in externships and beyond. I was able to connect with SLPs I already knew, as well as network with other SLPs and students in the exhibition hall and student social. At the end of the second day of SHAV, my classmates and I presented our research posters, which we had begun to prepare for last fall. There was a lot of work involved in the research itself, and it was a proud and accomplished feeling to confidently present the results to judges, SLPs, and other students. I am very grateful for this opportunity, and for the glimpse into the professional world I am working toward.
J. Taylor at SHAV Conference!!!
7 years
Hello Longwood Students, Faculty, and Staff!!
My name is Jalyn Destene Taylor and I am a first year Graduate student in the speech language pathology program. I am originally from Philadelphia, PA and I have found that I love the small town of Farmville, VA and the Longwood University community. I attended the 60th Annual Speech-Language-Hearing Association of Virginia (SHAV) Conference from March 22nd to March 24th, 2018 in Williamsburg, VA. I learned a lot during the seminars that I attended during the conference. I look forward to using my new knowledge about pediatric dysphagia and feeding therapy, collaborating with other professionals when it comes to working in the schools, and integrating tele-practice into my future work as a speech language pathologist. Another thing that I did during SHAV was a poster presentation with my parters, Seraphina Chabinec and Leah Horton about Vocal Hygiene pertaining to Physical Education Majors. To our delight, we won the first place prize out of 22 posters during the convention!!! Above are some pictures of me and my partners from the convention with our stunning poster. It was such a wonderful experience and I would love to attend next year!
SHAV Conference 2018
7 years
SHAV was a wonderful experience. I had the opportunity to go many different presentations to further my education in Communication Sciences and Disorders. The presentations that were of interest to me included Social Pragmatics Communication Disorders: Best Practices for Intervention, Supporting Students with Communication Deficits in Social Participation, Social Language Skills Training Within School-Based Curriculum, Getting Started in Telepractice for the SLP and Intensity of Treatment in Aphasia: More Than One Definition. In addition to going to these presentations, I had the opportunity to present a poster with my group on whether speaking fundamental frequency influences ratings of speaker competence and social attractiveness. Although we did not place in the poster competition, it was a wonderful experience being able to present our research to professionals and being able to look at other graduate programs research posters. It was interesting to look at the different interests regarding research topics between the graduate programs. Overall, I feel like I have furthered my education in many areas because of the SHAV conference. I am not from Virginia, but I hope that my home state has a similar type of conference so that I can further my knowledge in Speech Language Pathology. This is a field that is always changing. It is important that SLPs go to these conferences to stay in tune with current information in all the areas of Speech Language Pathology. 
SHAV 2018
7 years
This past week, I had the pleasure of attending the Speech-Language-Hearing Association of Virginia (SHAV) Conference with my graduate cohort in the Longwood Communication Sciences & Disorders graduate program. During my experience at this event, I was able to hear from leading professionals in our field about their research and experience treating patients, and many taught us new tips and tricks that we can apply in therapy to achieve better outcomes with patients. I was able to network with professionals across the state and learn about their careers and positions as speech language pathologists in different areas of our field. During my attendance at SHAV, I was also lucky enough to have the opportunity to present the research that I have been working on with my cohort members TIa Javier, Kristen Knowsley, and Rachel Pegelow. During our presentation, we were able to hone the professional skills we have learned while in our program here at Longwood. Overall, I had an absolutely amazing and eye-opening experience at SHAV this year, and I am so thankful that the professors in my program here at Longwood were so encouraging and supportive in this research and presentation experience!
Katie Lester’s awesome experience at the SHAV conference!
7 years
I had a wonderful educational experience attending the Speech-Language-Hearing Association of Virginia (SHAV) conference in Williamsburg, VA last week. This conference presented the latest research, trends, and challenges present in the dynamic field of speech-language pathology. I attended several speaker sessions, but my favorite presented on telepractice. This exciting session outlined the many considerations for a clinician interested in incorporating telepractice. This conference also had a poster presentation session where my cohort and I presented our research projects. These research projects have taken months to complete and it was so rewarding to stand in front of our finished posters and present. Plus, a group in my cohort won first place out of over 20 research projects! Overall, I found this experience to be very empowering and I can’t wait to attend again in the future.