By Stephanie DeSantis
Staff Reporter
For senior, Danielle Vigliarolo, life at Sacred Heart University can be hectic at times.
Between being the President of her sorority, Alpha Delta Pi, and President of an academic club, the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association (NSSLHA), Vigliarolo has a lot on her plate.
Balancing the responsibilities of both involvements requires strict time management and organization skills.
“I write everything out in my planner. I actually have two separate planners, one for school, and one for clubs,” said Vigliarolo.
Along with balancing both organizations, Vigliarolo has to find the time for her schoolwork. She is a double major in Psychology and Health Science, with a minor in Speech-Language Pathology, something she is very passionate about.
Since she does so much on campus, there’s a question of whether or not Vigliarolo ever gets overwhelmed.
“There’s certain times where there’s a lot due at once, or there’s a lot of events going on within each club. During that time period things can be stressful, but if you just stay on top of everything, it’s not too bad,” said Vigliarolo.
As for her duties for President of Alpha Delta Pi, Vigliarolo has to oversee the operations and events of 26 officers, including 7 executive officers. She also runs all chapter, standard, and executive board meetings, along with being the liaison between the Director of Greek Life and the sorority.
“Being the President of ADPi is rewarding, but stressful at the same time,” said Vigliarolo.
There are periods of the year when sorority life can be more involved, such as recruitment season, or new member season. However, Vigliarolo has gotten to a point where she knows how to juggle many things at once.
“I’ve learned you just have to balance everything in order to get it done,” said Vigliarolo.
Along with doing things for her sorority, Vigliarolo also has to manage the NSSLHA club.
As President of the NSSLHA, her job is to communicate with the other five members on the executive board about any events that are to be held on campus.
Composed of about 60 members, the club meets biweekly. Their main goal is to raise awareness on campus about speech and hearing disorders, as well as fundraising.
“Last week we handed out lollipops with speech and hearing facts on it, just so people are aware of the problems that exist,” said Vigliarolo.
In the club’s meetings, they inform members on what is going on within the speech-language pathology major, and the department. They also host workshops to learn interview and resume skills.
“At our last meeting, we had a graduate panel with the speech students from the master’s program here, and they answered questions about the admission process into grad school,” said Vigliarolo.
Since it’s Vigliarolo’s senior year, she herself is applying to many graduate schools, hoping to get her master’s in speech-pathology.
She is applying all over New York, as well as to Sacred Heart’s speech-language pathology graduate program.
“The graduate application process is a lot different from the undergraduate admissions process. It’s a lot more extensive because of the competition to get a master’s degree,” said Vigliarolo.
Despite its competitiveness, Vigliarolo is positive she wants to go into speech-language pathology, a career that has interested her since she was a young child.
“I once needed to see a speech pathologist for three years myself, so that’s why I wanted to go into it,” said Vigliarolo.
Although still in college, she has already begun her journey of helping others.
Over this past summer, she had a job as a teacher’s assistant and aid at a school for children with down syndrome, called ACDS (Association for Children with Down Syndrome).
Everyday for two hours, Vigliarolo would perform applied behavioral analysis (ABA) therapy, with the children. She is now considered trained to perform this therapy.
The goal of this therapy method, is to improve certain behaviors, while decreasing others.
“I could see that in just two months, they had improved so much. Some kids take longer, but there are still noticeable minor improvements,” said Vigliarolo.
This summer job has prepped Vigliarolo for her future plans in assisting those in need.
After graduate school, she hopes to get a job specifically in speech-language pathology, where she will help those with speech and hearing disorders.
