News release
LEAVENWORTH - Sierra Eichman was recently honored with the 2023 Graduate Student Leadership Award from the University of St. Mary in Leavenworth, Kansas. She is one of twelve candidates pursuing her Doctor of Occupational Therapy in the inaugural class of the OTD program. On April 28, 2023, her class was recognized at their pinning ceremony in the Annunciation Chapel on the campus of the University of St. Mary.
Eichman received the Graduate Student Leadership Award for displaying leadership in the mission of the University and demonstrating the four core values of Community, Excellence, Justice, and Respect. She is also the current President of Student Occupational Therapy Association at the University. Under her leadership, SOTA has completed numerous community outreach events and has promoted the role of occupational therapists in society. In addition to her coursework, Eichman has completed fieldwork at USD 453 in Leavenworth, Kansas, University of Kansas Multiple Sclerosis Achievement Center in Kansas City, Kansas, and the Veterans Administration’s Domiciliary in Leavenworth, Kansas. She will begin a 12-week intensive fieldwork rotation with Hays Medical Center’s Outpatient Occupational Therapy Department later this month before returning to USM two more rotations in the Kansas City Metro area.
Sierra is a 2017 graduate of Hays High School and received her Bachelor of Science in Biology with an emphasis in Health Professions from Fort Hays State University in 2021. She is the daughter of David and Sheila Eichman, Hays, and the granddaughter of Ronald and Carol Whitehurst, Garden City, and the late Cleo and Frances Eichman, formerly of Palco. After receiving her Doctor of Occupational Therapy next May, she plans to return to western Kansas as an occupational therapist.