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Communicative disorders student Naomi “Samantha” Brugman \t\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCommunicative disorders student Naomi “Samantha” Brugman \t\t\t\t\t\t
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Naomi \u201cSamantha\u201d Brugman\u2019s younger brother struggled with an articulation disorder in elementary school. After school, she practiced sounds, syllables and words with him until he became confident in speaking.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Helping her brother sparked her interest in studying speech-language therapy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to help others find their voice,\u201d said Brugman, a Cal State Fullerton student majoring in communicative disorders<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve come to appreciate the profound impact speech therapists have \u2014 from helping infants learn the crucial suck-swallow-breathe pattern to enabling adults to regain communication skills lost due to neurological conditions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Brugman aspires to a career working with older adults with neurodegenerative diseases and speech and language conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSamantha is a dedicated student with a clear goal to become a speech-language pathologist,\u201d said HyeKyeung Seung, chair and professor of communication sciences and disorders. \u201cShe has a bright future ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n To help Brugman finish college, she was awarded a $2,000 Emeriti Memorial Scholarship<\/a> from the Emeriti Association of Cal State Fullerton<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Emeriti scholarship is making a huge difference in my life by helping to pay for school,\u201d said Brugman, who works part time as a city recreation leader. \u201cBalancing school, work and family responsibilities can be overwhelming, but this scholarship will give me some much-needed breathing room.\u201d<\/p>\n Brugman, the first in her family to attend college, earned three associate degrees from Fullerton College before transferring to CSUF.\u00a0<\/p>\n She has participated in university programs to help her reach her academic and career goals, including the \u201cProfessions Advancing and Transforming Health Academy<\/a>,\u201d which supports and trains students interested in pursuing careers in health fields. As a participant in the PATH Research Scholars Program<\/a>, her project focused on the benefits of speech therapy for patients with Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n Brugman enrolled in the Career Center\u2019s \u201cI Am First\u201d<\/a> program, which offers career and leadership development for first-generation college students. She continues to receive counseling from the Educational Opportunity Program<\/a> and guidance at the Transfer Adult Re-entry Parenting and Pregnant Student Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cBecoming a Titan was one of the best decisions I\u2019ve made,\u201d she said. \u201cCSUF has opened doors for me that I didn\u2019t even know existed. Joining these programs set me up for success.\u201d<\/p>\n Brugman has gained work experience in her discipline by volunteering 200 hours in the speech therapy unit at UCI Medical Center to assist patients dealing with conditions such as strokes and traumatic brain injuries. She is also a camp counselor at RAD Camp \u2014 Rising Above Disabilities \u2014 and works with children and adults with Down syndrome.<\/p>\n After earning her bachelor\u2019s degree next year, Brugman plans to pursue a master\u2019s<\/a> in communicative disorders at CSUF. The path includes completing a one-year clinical fellowship and obtaining a state license<\/a> and a national certificate of clinical competence to work in hospitals and private practice clinics.<\/p>\n \u201cSpeech therapy has the power to connect people to the world around them \u2014 and that\u2019s the impact I want to make,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Communicative disorders student Naomi “Samantha” Brugman
Naomi \u201cSamantha\u201d Brugman\u2019s younger brother struggled with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,81970,81971],"class_list":["post-170998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-communicative-disorders","tag-emeriti"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"sppech-language](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Brugman-Speaking.jpg\")
Naomi \u201cSamantha\u201d Brugman thanks members of the Emeriti Association of Cal State Fullerton for awarding her a scholarship.<\/p>\n