Faithful Are the Healers

Meet Grace Corey

Grace Corey has always been an athlete. Growing up, her military family moved around a lot, and sports were one constant in her life. Naturally, playing sports led to some injuries, and Grace spent a lot of time in clinics, athletic training offices and physical therapy facilities. These experiences inspired her to pursue a career in helping others to heal.

Grace knew she wanted her academic and professional aspirations to align with her spiritual beliefs. “Science and faith go hand in hand,” Grace said. As a health sciences major, she’s studying to become a physical therapist. 

Though her classwork is challenging, she feels well-prepared to take the next step in her education. “I had never taken an anatomy class before taking lower-level anatomy at Baylor,” Grace said. “It was challenging, but because I now have that foundation, I’m understanding and retaining more of my upper-level anatomy classes.”

Her professors have made all the difference in Grace’s academic success. “My professor does such a great job with our upper-level anatomy class. Even though it’s a higher-level course, I’m retaining more information than I did in my lower-level classes because of the activities she plans for us and the questions she asks in class. Her teaching style creates a classroom environment similar to graduate-level classes, so my classmates and I will be equipped for graduate school with that experience.”

Though Grace is focused on her academic work, she has continued to prioritize nurturing her faith. She is part of a local church and has been a volunteer with Vertical Ministries, a Waco-based group that leads worship on Baylor’s campus. 

“It’s a great way for students to grow in their faith. They do music and messages and message series, and it is held later at night so no one has an excuse to not come. I really enjoyed being a part of the volunteer team and seeing the crowds of students come and the impact it makes.”

As she prepares to apply to graduate programs, Grace has been logging required observation hours in physical therapy clinics. “It’s important to shadow physical therapists in all kinds of environments and specialties,” Grace said. “Waco has a wide variety of opportunities to observe physical therapists and their day-to-day work.” Currently, she’s shadowing with a physical therapist in the neuro-rehabilitation department at Baylor Scott and White Hospital in Waco.

 “God calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves and to serve others in need. We talk about this in our classes,” Grace said. “One day, I hope I can be the kind of physical therapist that shines the light of Christ to other people through my treatment of them.”