Once a Tiger
Robin Boyle returns to campus for a career change
By Megan Bradshaw on August 13, 2018
You could say Robin Boyle has come full circle.
She is enrolled for the fall term in Towson University’s occupational therapy B.S./M.S. program. But she first set foot on campus as a pre-kindergartener.
Boyle was a pupil at TU’s Lida Lee Tall Learning Resources Center from Pre-K to second grade, when the school closed.
“It was a really neat environment,” she said.
Boyle remembers ramp sings, theater on the “cutest little stage,” burying time capsules on campus and roller skating on the ramp with her mom on the weekends. She still talks to her former classmates; her friend Janet is her son Benjamin’s godmother.
So perhaps it’s fitting another friend—a TU occupational therapy alumna—helped convince her to enroll in TU’s OT program.
Boyle works at Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Lifeline, a transportation program that provides advanced life support and critical care services for patients referred to The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions by physicians and transferred from other hospitals.
People from around the hospital come through for tours. A chat with an occupational therapist on one of those tours inspired Boyle to consider that career path.
She has worked in caregiving roles throughout her career. She was an emergency medical technician (EMT) and certified nursing assistant (CNA) at Oak Crest Retirement Community after graduating from CCBC in 2005 with an associate degree in general studies. Boyle still works as an EMT in addition to her role at Lifeline.
“People are happy to see me on what is probably the worst day of their lives, but then they never want to see me again,” she laughed. “I want to do something where people are happy to see me every time I arrive.”
Despite her background in geriatrics, Boyle wants to shift her focus to pediatric care. It is a natural fit for a busy mom. Benjamin will start pre-school in the fall, and she has another son due in November.
“I’m going to have a newborn with one month left of classes this fall,” she said. “But I’m not going to let that stop me. I learned 12 years ago that once I start, I should keep going.”
This story is one of several related to President Kim Schatzel's priorities for Towson University: TIGER Way.