When she was in high school, Rachel (Hahn) Arkenberg ’16 started looking for a college with a great Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) program. She thought she’d found the right one, but they told her, “We’d love to have you, but honestly, with your credentials, you need to look at Butler’s program.”

“That was something you’d never expect,” she said. “I was totally shocked.”

But that turned out to be great for Arkenberg, who proclaimed Butler’s CSD program to be “the best program in the nation.”

“Because we don’t have a graduate program, we as undergrads get to do all the experiential, clinical experiences that are within our scope of practice and our ability,” she said. “Not only did I get to do the community screening with preschoolers in the Indianapolis area, I did research.”

And she got to work with the Butler Aphasia Community, in a course where she helped an adult client in need of language therapy while working under the supervision of a certified speech pathologist.

Arkenberg, who grew up 20 minutes from campus in Zionsville, Indiana, said she also was attracted to Butler because of the opportunities it offers for service. She was a Resident Assistant in ResCo, a multiyear participant in Fall Alternative Break, a tutor in a local high school English as a New Language program, and she worked with disabled students in the VSA Arts of Indiana program.

After graduating, she continued her education at Purdue University. She is currently finishing her master’s degree in Speech Language Pathology, with plans to continue at Purdue for a doctorate.

“I have been able to present my research from Butler and new research I have done at Purdue at international conferences,” she said. “The opportunities I had at Butler uniquely prepared me for research and clinical work in graduate school, and I have had a more diverse and interesting caseload because of it.”