Zachary Secor

After his first year of college, Zachary Secor was employed at a summer enrichment program where he was assigned to work one-on-one with a young student.  Zach hadn’t been told much about this student, but he would soon learn that the student was quite the handful. He could hardly sit still. His attention went everywhere.

Determined to help this student, Zach began searching online for activities he might try.

Two months later, as the program was ending, one of the program’s teachers approached Zach and told him how impressed she was by the progress he’d made with the challenging student. She said the student’s parents were also impressed.

This teacher asked Zach: “What occupational therapy school are you in?”

Zach didn’t even know what occupational therapy was. He was majoring in Business.

Today, he’s finishing his master’s in Sage’s Occupational Therapy program, and he remains quite sure he’s found the career he was meant to find.

“I mean, honestly, you get to help people live their lives in a way that’s more fully functioning,” Zach says. “You can make a difference.”

Sometimes making this difference, he notes, is a matter of helping someone learn to cook for themselves. Sometimes it’s about giving someone back their independence. 

“And that’s awesome. Because when people don’t have their independence it can really get them down.”

When Zach was doing his homework on where to get his master’s, the Sage program stood out. “I thought the size of the program would really work for me and that’s certainly been true,” he says. “The teachers are right there to help you with any problem you might have, even if it’s a personal issue.”

What’s been most valuable to him, is the way the program promotes problem solving. “Because, when you’re out there in the world, the professors want you to be able to handle all the issues you’ll face. They challenge you to come up with the right answers for yourself. And that’s the way it should be, because that’s how you become really prepared.”

Similarly, Zach appreciates how his Sage professors share examples of the challenges they’ve needed to solve when working as occupational therapists themselves.

“They’re preparing you for real life.”

Zach’s instincts about the strengths of the program have been verified, he says, by rumors heard out on the street.

“People who work in the field, they say Sage Occupational Therapy students are especially well prepared.”

And, based on his own experience, Zach believes the rumors are true.