It’s always fun to catch up with a Heartland Community School graduate and this summer we awarded the Heartlandbeat student of the month to 2008 Heartland graduate Kellen Goertzen. He recently graduated from Bethel College majoring in Athletic Training but he is not finished with school just yet. He was accepted at the University of Nebraska Medical School where he will begin a three year program in late August in their Physical Therapy program.
“When I started college I had no idea what I wanted to do. I sort of got interested in the area of athletic training and physical therapy after rehabbing my own hamstring injury,†said Goertzen. As part of his Athletic Training program he ended up observing at the Hruska Clinic in Lincoln and was intrigued by their unique approach to physical therapy and got hooked he said. Goertzen is no stranger to sports and while at Bethel College he played football and was on the track and golf teams.
A foot injury kept him out of football his junior year but he learned a lot from that injury as well that helped him decide to go into physical therapy. “It’s really interesting to watch what you read in a textbook actually happen to your body,†said Goertzen. He saw the effects of muscle atrophy on his own foot after being on crutches for 12 weeks.
Goertzen not only participated in sports at Bethel College but also was a member of the choir. “It was interesting to be so involved in all the sports at a small college and at the same time get to know people on the music side,†said Goertzen. He admits that when in high school he would never imagined he would be going into physical therapy. He attributed his strong writing skills that he learned at Heartland for part of the reason he was successful at the college level.
Goertzen is engaged to Sarah Weber from Milford who is finishing up her post graduate studies also and they are planning a wedding next summer. This summer he is living at home with his parents Kurt and Kathryn Goertzen working on the family farm. In his spare time you can find Kellen at the Galaway Creek golf course working on his game but golf is a little more than a hobby for him.
“I have a dream of someday incorporating my love of golf with physical therapy,†said Goertzen. He envisions becoming not only a Physical Therapist but a PGA golf instructor who could help golfers with their game as well as physical issues that might be inhibiting their swing. Congratulations to Kellen on being our Heartlandbeat Student of the Month and we wish him the best as he prepares for his postgraduate studies.
Shannon Siebert
