Westmont Magazine A Winning Internship With the Dodgers

Margo Georghiou Kwiatkowski ’13 watched her internship end abruptly this fall when the Dodgers lost to the Nationals in the final game of the National League Division Series. A Campanella/Dodgers Scholarship recipient and avid baseball fan, she was the only student this year—and the first woman ever— from Cal State Northridge’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program to intern with the Dodgers during spring training. The team invited her to stay on throughout the season, even after she completed her degree in August.

Every home game, Margo treated players at Dodger Stadium under the supervision of the team’s physical therapists. Working one-on-one with athletes before and during games, she got to know them personally, especially those on the injured list. She and the other physical therapists coordinated closely with the strength and conditioning staff to help healthy Dodgers stay fit.

“Treating professional athletes has its challenges because theyalready know how to move really well,” she says. “People in peak health physically and nutritionally heal quickly, allowing physical therapy to demonstrate its benefits.”

Margo seeks to be creative in solving problems and teaching regular patients new, pain-free ways to move. “I encourage people to take charge of their bodies and their wellness,” she says. “Learning how to move and developing better awareness of their bodies gives them more control than they realized and takes away their fear.”

Margo tore her ACL skiing at Big Bear when she was 16 and endured two surgeries and a long rehabilitation. Her physical therapist played a key role in her recovery, even offering to treat her free of charge when her mother developed breast cancer. “I fell in love with physical therapy,” Margo says. “God was clearly saying it was what I should do with my life as my experience would make me a better physical therapist. Other than people practicing behavioral medicine, physical therapists get the most face time with their patients. It’s such an opportunity to demonstrate a Christ-like attitude, praying for them quietly, helping them heal, and developing relationships with them.”

Margo majored in kinesiology at Westmont, worked at Hayashida Physical Therapy and participated in the Kinesiology Mayterm. The group traveled to Europe, participated in research at the University of Bath, and visited two different Olympic stadiums to discuss sports psychology.

Treating Warrior baseball players in the clinic on campus, including her husband, Jackson Kwiatkowski ’12, kindled her interest in working with athletes. She enrolled at Cal State Northridge primarily because of the Campanella/Dodgers Scholarship and the opportunity to intern with the team. She received one of 20 scholarships for her class and was the only recipient chosen to work with the Dodgers.

At Northridge, Margo co-authored a research paper with three other students and a professor about a rehabilitation protocol for a knee condition, which they presented at the World Congress of Physical Therapy in Geneva. She took her board exam in October and has accepted a position with Two Trees Physical Therapy, Ortho and Sport in Ventura.

Jackson majored in physics and manages the fleet at Independent Concrete Cutting in Oxnard. He does project management and especially enjoys overseeing a team of mechanics. The couple met at Ventura College, and Margo chose Westmont because of scholarships and grants—and the ability to graduate early— which made the college less expensive than a state school.

“Westmont prepared me so well for graduate school and what I’m doing now,” she says. “I developed all the necessary skills and have easily applied them in different situations. I greatly appreciate my kinesiology major and liberal arts education.”