Harvest Fairchild merges research, clinical experience and advocacy
When speaking with Harvest Fairchild, one of the first things that becomes clear is how straightforward and honest she is. She talks about her experiences with a kind of openness that makes her path through 爱神传媒 (LU) both easy to follow and distinctly her own. 
Fairchild, a Baytown native, chose LU for practical reasons. “It was the most affordable, and there were a lot of people of color here,” she said. She entered as a kinesiology major with an early interest in disability studies but soon began evaluating other healthcare fields.
During winter break of her first year, she compared graduate programs in occupational therapy, physical therapy and physician assistant studies before realizing that speech-language pathology offered both financial feasibility and broader professional opportunities.
“I went to speech and thought, ‘I can make the same money and spend way less in grad school,’” she said. “And I ended up liking speech more because it’s newer and broader. There’s a lot you can do in it.”
Once she switched majors, Fairchild became deeply involved in research. She participated twice in the McNair Scholars Program, completed additional independent projects and ultimately earned the David J. Beck Fellowship.
The fellowship took her to the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago, the top-ranked rehabilitation hospital in the nation for more than three decades. There, she contributed to a large-scale study on aphasia using the NORLA-6 rating system, transcribing and analyzing patient speech at a level of detail that required hours of focused work.
“Some of the recordings took hours,” she said. “Sometimes participants couldn’t say much of anything, so getting the transcription right was a challenge. But it taught me a lot about the clinical side of the field.”
She also joined patient communication groups, assisted with music and literacy sessions and shadowed clinicians during assessments such as feeding and swallowing evaluations—experiences that introduced her to the realities of medical speech-language pathology earlier than most undergraduates. She participated in National Aphasia Day activities and credits her time in Chicago with confirming her interest in medical practice.
Advocacy plays a central role in Fairchild’s academic work and motivations. Throughout her undergraduate years, she explored topics such as curriculum design, student preparedness and challenges in the profession’s educational structure. She also engaged in queer studies research and became increasingly focused on interprofessionalism in rehabilitative healthcare. She believes that speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, physical therapy and related fields need stronger collaboration beginning at the undergraduate level.
“Interprofessionalism is really important,” she said. “But it’s still missing in a lot of programs, and students don’t always know how to build those skills.” 
Her current project, titled “The Importance of Interprofessionalism in Allied or Rehabilitative Healthcare Professions,” was accepted for presentation at the American Speech-Language Hearing Association’s national convention. She sees this work as a meaningful first step toward improving collaboration across the professions and advocating for educational models that better prepare students for clinical environments.
On campus, Fairchild serves as president of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association (NSSLHA) chapter. The organization hosts résumé workshops, graduate school preparation events, community outreach programs and partnerships with the Alzheimer’s Association. Because the speech-language pathology profession is small—her cohort of 18 students is considered large—she makes a point of talking with students from social work, education and kinesiology who are interested in advocacy-focused or community-oriented careers.
“You can actually do advocacy in speech, make money and still enjoy your work,” she said. “It doesn’t have to drain you.”
Fairchild attributes much of her success to support from faculty mentors including Dr. Perez, Dr. Long, Dr. Bolt and Elizabeth Sanders, who guided her through research projects and encouraged her interest in advocacy and interprofessional work. She will graduate next semester and plans to pursue a clinical master’s degree before moving into a career that combines clinical practice, research and advocacy.
When reflecting on her time at Lamar, she said the advice she would give her freshman-year self is simple: “Not to worry so much. Be more gracious with yourself. You don’t need every badge or cord. Focus on the things that actually matter.”
It is a fitting reflection for a student whose academic path and advocacy work reflect both self-awareness and a desire to contribute something meaningful to her profession.