PTA Student Wins National Award
Kyongho Pak, a student enrolled in the Somerset Community College Physical Therapist
Assistant (PTA) program has been named the recipient of the American Physical Therapy
Association’s (APTA) Academy of Geriatric Physical Therapy’s Outstanding Student Award
for 2018. He will receive the award at the APTA Combined Sections Meeting in New Orleans,
Louisiana in February. The award is based upon academic performance, community service, service to the APTA
and the Academy of Geriatric Physical Therapy and letters of recommendation.
Pak currently serves as president of his class and of the Somerset Community College
(SCC) Physical Therapy Student Organization. He is a peer mentor and tutor at SCC
in addition to being an active member of the Kentucky Physical Therapy Association
(KPTA). Pak was named to the 2017 KPTA/RehabCare All-Academic Team and has attended
numerous state and national conferences. In 2016 he was elected to serve on the APTA
Student Assembly’s Board of Directors.
Pak has also participated in several meaningful community service projects. He has
volunteered for the 2016 Bourbon Chase, the Special Olympics, Shoes4Kids and PT Day
of Service. He has also participated in fundraisers for physical therapy research
through the Marquette Challenge, with SCC being named the top fundraising PTA Program
in the United States.
Pak is a native of Lexington, Kentucky and is the son of Max Pak and Christy Smith
and is married to Ashley Pak. He will receive an Associate of Applied Science Degree
from the PTA Program in May 2018.
Pak is the sixth SCC student to win the award. Past winners from SCC include Leah
Wright, Lexington; Travis Dills, Somerset; Brittany McKee, Bronston; Briana Allen,
Monticello; and Debora Lasure, Stanford. Ron Meade nominated Pak for the award, and
Dr. Steve Hammons, PTA program student Manoah Carrel and Eddie Smith, PT, of Arizona,
supported the nomination.
For more information about the SCC PTA Program, contact the program director at ron.meade@kctcs.edu.
