CHS Announces Fall 23 Commencement Honor Roles: Pamela Escobar, Undergraduate Student Marshal

Published November 16, 2023
By Darlene Muguiro
UTEP College of Health Sciences

This December, four CHS students will serve in honorific roles at the Fall 2023 commencement ceremony at the Don Haskins Center. These students were selected for their positions based on academic achievement, extracurricular participation, and community and University service. Our first story features Pamela Escobar, Undergraduate Student Marshal for the College of Health Sciences.

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Pamela Escobar, a candidate for the Bachelor of Science in Rehabilitation Sciences degree (concentration in Physical Therapy), recalls her transition to UTEP from El Paso Community College (EPCC) as a bit rocky. She left EPCC believing that she would pursue a degree at UTEP in psychology, and arrived on campus during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. She quickly found out that the major wasn’t for her, and decided to switch to rehabilitation sciences, where she could refocus her passion for helping others in a new area.

“My first semester was really difficult because all of my classes were online. But once I was able to come back in person, I loved it. The Rehabilitation Sciences Program provides a very supportive environment,” she said. “It was great to make connections as an undergraduate student with the people I knew I was going to be possibly studying with in graduate school.”

Escobar says that one of the most memorable parts of her undergraduate experience was participating in the Viva la Salud conference held this past September, where she presented a poster along with her faculty mentor, Dr. Gregory Schober, assistant professor of Rehabilitation Sciences. She met Schober in his healthcare policy and ethics course, and has been part of his research team since. Escobar also had the opportunity to represent UTEP at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR).

“I pursued the research opportunity so that I could more fully understand the needs of my community and serve my patients better as a future practitioner,” she said. “It was wonderful being able to practice public speaking at NCUR, where I had the chance to discuss the problems in my community. I was glad to have the space to do this.”

Along with assisting Schober in his research and managing a full-time class load, Escobar was a PT tech for a local pediatric clinic, where she was able to put what she had learned in class into practice. She says that she was able to manage her time by dedicating certain days to school and homework, and others to her job. Shortly after beginning her PT tech position, she was certain that she wanted to dedicate her life to physical therapy, specifically in pediatrics.

After graduation, Escobar will begin a new phase of her academic journey, joining the UTEP Doctor of Physical Therapy Program this coming spring.

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Go Miners!