Exercise science senior lands impressive grad school placement
Lakeland University senior Katelyn Kitsembel remembers the exact moment she found out that she was accepted into Northwestern University’s highly regarded Doctor of Physical Therapy program.
A four-year member of Lakeland’s volleyball program, Kitsembel and the Muskies were in Eau Claire, Wis., for a September weekend tournament. She and teammate/close friend D’Janae Gilley were headed to a team meeting in their hotel when she got a notice on her watch of an email from Northwestern.
“I said, ‘D. we can’t go any further,’” said Kitsembel, an exercise science major. “All I read was ‘Congratulations, you’ve been accepted,’ and I was already on the floor crying.”
Her acceptance into the nation’s fourth-ranked DPT program is the latest in a list of achievements for the Lake Mills, Wis., native.
Using a mix of coursework led by Lakeland’s science faculty and nearly 2,000 hours of research and real-world experience, Kitsembel becomes the latest Lakeland science program graduate to earn placement in a high-level professional school.
Her research project used ultrasonography to investigate the size and quality of the lower extremity muscles and the Achilles tendon and their potential relationships with jump performance in the Lakeland University volleyball teams, a project she has continued this year.
She conducted approximately 250 hours of research and analysis with the Exercise Science Research Team guided by Lakeland Assistant Professor of Exercise Science Caleb Voskuil, Ph.D. Last spring, she was named co-winner of the Roozen ’66 Undergraduate Research Award, which goes to the best original scientific research.
“Research was a big learning curve for me, but Dr. Voskuil allowed me to figure things out on my own,” said Kitsembel.
Outside the classroom, she completed a 100-hour internship as a sophomore with Aurora Health Care’s physical therapists that included job shadows and a weekly meeting with a mentor PT.
That led to an internship at ATI Physical Therapy beginning the summer of 2024 where her responsibilities included everything from leading patients through their exercise programs to helping patients with insurance and other paperwork.
She will have logged 1,550 hours with ATI by the time she graduates this May, and this spring was named Experiential Learner of the Year for Lakeland’s main campus.
Voskuil said Kitsembel’s acceptance to Northwestern reflects her exceptional drive and the integrated academic and experiential foundation she built at Lakeland.
“Katelyn is one of those rare students whose presence elevates every environment she enters,” Voskuil said. “She represents what happens when natural talent meets initiative and opportunity. She immersed herself in our ESS program, gaining hands-on experience in our state-of-the-art laboratory and completing multiple physical therapy internships that connected classroom physiology to real patient care.
“Although we’re a small school, we outpace often much larger schools in offering STEM undergraduates in-depth research options, and Katelyn took full advantage. That allows LU students to be competitive when applying to larger, nationally ranked programs.”
When it came time to apply for grad school, Kitsembel had an impressive resume that also included:
Her initial grad school list was primarily Wisconsin schools, but Voskuil challenged her to expand her search nationally. “He told me, ‘You need to also look elsewhere; you can go anywhere you want to go,’” Kitsembel said. “I was originally thinking pediatrics, but getting into Northwestern has opened so many doors for me.”
Kitsembel always had a career in healthcare in mind, and when she tore her ACL in high school and needed physical therapy, her experience shaped her career path.
“It’s rewarding to create relationships with patients outside of their injury and get to know who they are and see them evolve from that first day meeting them to their discharge,” Kitsembel said. “It’s rewarding to push people past their comfort zone. You get to help them work toward their goals.”
