My Values

By: Abigail Palmiter

What would it feel like if someone started crossing out the values that matter most to you?

I recently participated in an in-class activity where we did an exercise that really made me stop and think.

We each wrote down our top 5 personal values on notecards, the things that matter most in guiding our lives. For me, I wrote: Family, Faith, Education, Friends, and Equity.

Then came the hard part: our classmates were asked to go around and cross one value off our list, the one that mattered the least to them. Watching others cross out my values one by one was more uncomfortable than I expected. These weren’t just words on paper, they’re the foundations of who I am.

The first card to be crossed out was Equity.

That moment hit me. Because equity is something I refuse to compromise on. As a physical therapy student, I’ve seen how inequities in healthcare can change the entire trajectory of someone’s life. Access, representation, and inclusion aren’t just “nice to have” they determine who gets care, who feels heard, and who thrives.

It also made me think about why I care so deeply about the imPacT FUND. This fund exists to support underrepresented minority students in physical therapy, breaking down barriers so that our profession reflects the diverse communities we serve. That’s what equity looks like in action.

Even though equity was crossed off my notecard in class, it will never be crossed off my life. It’s a value that shapes how I want to show up as a student, a future clinician, and a person.