Patricia Plachno of Polo recently graduated from DePaul University in Chicago with a master’s degree in speech language pathology.
Plachno is the daughter of Larry and Nancy Plachno of Polo. She attended Polo schools and graduated from Polo Community High School in 2019, ranking third in her class.
She continued her education at Augustana College in Rock Island, where she graduated cum laude with a degree in communication sciences and disorders with minors in English and creative writing.
While at Augustana, she was active in several areas. She served as president of the Multicultural Dance Troupe, was an officer of the Chi Omega Gamma Sorority, was an officer of the Asian Student Organization, and was an officer of the Filipino Student Organization. In addition, she was a reading/writing peer tutor, a linguistics and communication sciences and disorders tutor, the lead of the Diversity Task Force, and served as the marketing director and graphic design head for the Office of Student Life.
While at DePaul University, she served as vice president of Speech Language Pathology Cohort Four and was also active in DePaul’s National Student Speech Language Hearing Association. She was also involved with the Bilingual Students for Diversity and Inclusion and passed the Speech Language Pathology Praxis and Comprehensive Exam.
She has been offered and has accepted a position for a clinical fellowship in her specialty of pediatric speech language pathology.