About Me

Hi! My name is Aspen Karns and I use they/them pronouns. I am a freshman at IUPUI who is currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Exercise Science and am planning to get my Doctorate of Physical Therapy. I became interested in Physical Therapy through the many sports I played throughout my life. I had always been an active person, participating in a number of sports throughout my life. During my high school Track and Field career, I was exposed to Athletic Training when I had chronic shin splints. I was interested in how these Athletic Trainers knew what exactly to do to treat injuries and looked into it. At this point, it was the summer going into my senior year and I still had no clue what I was going to do with my life. My mom suggested Physical Therapy, and after I had shadowed under Physical Therapists from ATI and Orthopedic & Balance Therapy Specialists, I decided to choose Physical Therapy as my career.

Sports

For most of my life, I had been active in participating in sports. From 4 years old to now, I've been in soccer, track and field, and now weightlifting and open style dance. Participating in track and field was a huge influence on my career choice now because of my coaches and my athletic trainers. I saw the passion they had for their jobs in rehabilitating athletes and I decided that I wanted to do that as well. During my track and field career, I was a 3 time Varsity discus thrower and placed at Sectionals each year.

For throwers especially, we lifted weights 3-4 days a week. Lifting weights along with practice helped me find another passion: weightlifting. When I first started track and field at 13, I was extremely scrawny and weak and confided in weightlifting to make myself stronger, feel better about my body image, and clear my head after a bad day. Even though I don't do throwing anymore, I still am a regular gym goer and as avid about weightlifting as I always was.

During my 7th and 8th grade years, I joined Science Olympiad. While I had been active in academic teams in the past, Science Olympiad influenced me to choose a STEM career and fueled my interest for science even more.

Academics

I've always been hardworking and high achieving, especially when it came to school. During high school I had an overall 3.7 GPA unweighted and received many academic awards like graduating with Honors Distinction. Doing well in school led me to get accepted into IUPUI and helps me continually do well in college.

From 5th grade to 12th grade, I had been in my school district's orchestra. As I wasn't sure which instrument to play at first, I managed to stick to the violin. My experience within the Valpo Orchestras had been great, as I learned how to play an instrument, made new friends, and enjoyed the pieces we had played and made memories.

Social Life

I'm a very inclusive and extroverted person, so naturally I have a lot of friends in my network! I have a lot of friends in my hometown, but I've been recently making friends and creating stronger friendships with people in Indianapolis!