Michaela Close

Looking back on her Sage experience, recent graduate Michaela Close is grateful for the different ways she got to go deep.

Deep, in the conversations she had with her professors in the Creative Arts in Therapy program. They so openly shared their experiences working in the field.

Deep, in the way she had so many opportunities to be in clinical settings, where she interacted with children, adults, and the elderly, discovering how what she was learning in the classroom got put to the test.

Deep, in the way her “Big Sister” took such a caring interest in her and became a great friend, even introducing her to the fellow student who’s now her fiancée.

This depth of experience, Michaela believes, strengthened who she is as a person, as well as the commitment she has to work in the healing profession.

“I’ve become more independent,” she says. “I’m able to speak out more. When I started college, I was shy. Now, I can share what’s on my mind, and discuss and make the points I want to make.”

In many of her classes, she adds, especially as a young woman, she was inspired to believe – “You have a voice. Use it.”

In high school, Michaela chose Sage because of the strength of its Creative Arts in Therapy program. She’d been a dancer, and she knew she wanted to help people. “But my time at Sage made me feel better about the career I’d chosen to follow.”

She saw up close, in internships, in one-on-one interactions, in the clinical setting, the actual benefits people experience when skilled practitioners use the arts as effective therapeutic tools.

She’s out interviewing now, and deciding where to plug in. She might want to be a child life specialist in a hospital, or work at a family service agency that helps youths and adults with behavioral challenges or developmental disabilities.

Wherever she decides to work, she says, “ I know the education I got made me ready for real life experiences.”