With the start of the spring semester, the first class of DPTs is well on their way to the start of a much-anticipated profession.  We made it through the dreaded cadaver class the department calls Clinical Gross Anatomy this past summer and the mind-boggling class they call Functional Anatomy and Biomechanics.  After hearing all the wonderful stories from the second years, we are really looking forward to Clinical Neuroscience now.  Approximately two-thirds of the class is enrolled in our first integrated clinical affiliation.  Students are placed in the UDPT clinic in McKinly for the orthopedic outpatient requirement or in local geriatric clinics for the geriatric component of the new DPT program.  The class is looking forward to our first full-time affiliation in an acute care setting this summer.

 Outside of the classroom, the class knows how to have fun, too.  The majority of the class participated in Bike to the Bay in October.  After a hard day’s work of providing massages to worn out bikers, we headed back out to the Rusty Rudder for a little fun. 

A few weeks later Halloween was upon us and it can’t be Halloween without dressing up.  The second years hoaxed the first years into dressing up for a costume contest, although none of the MPT students opted to dress up.  They say “it’s tradition.”  Austin Powers took first place, a Dr. Mettler look-alike took second, and a scooter biker babe came in third.  There were plenty of good costumes and many blackmail pictures to prove it.  For the spring semester, the class has a huge fundraising event ahead of them.  We will be working at UD men’s and women’s lacrosse games, taking tickets and running scores.  We hope to add a large sum of money to our fundraising account by the time the semester is over.  A portion of the money will be donated to the APTA's Foundation for Physical Therapy, as part of the 2003 Pittsburgh-Marquette Challenge .

 We hope this newsletter finds you well and in good spirits.  We enjoy meeting alumni and would appreciate any advice you have for us.  Please do not hesitate to stop in and see us in McKinly…we are always here!