Jeff G’00, G’05 and Durand G’22 Shoup lead similar paths through Elon’s DPT program

The pair are the legacy father-son learners of Elon’s Medical professional of Bodily Treatment system.

The apple didn’t slide far from the tree in the case of Jeff and Durand Shoup. Much more than two decades back, Jeff Shoup turned 1 of the very first pupils to graduate from Elon with a bodily remedy degree. On Friday, Dec. 9, his son Durand turned a single of the newest physical therapy graduates.

Jeff was a member of the inaugural cohort of Elon’s Grasp of Bodily Therapy in 2000 and returned to get paid his doctorate as soon as the university transitioned to a doctoral application in 2005. Seventeen years later on, his son Durand has develop into the initially Elon DPT legacy pupil, possessing graduated from a university that has played an vital function in equally of their lives.

“The familiarity and the assistance, in and out of the college, is why I selected Elon,” Durand explained, a member of the DPT Course of 2022. As a child, Durand often accompanied his father to campus, so much so that he grew to become the de facto course mascot. A career in bodily remedy for Durand seemed like a foregone conclusion. From his point of watch, however, that could not have been even further from reality.

“Being the oldest, you by natural means rebel from your mothers and fathers. For many many years, my father would say, ‘You really should appear look at out the cadaver labs. And I was like, ‘Absolutely not, I never want everything to do with bodily therapy,’” he stated.

Unmindful of it then, the time Durand spent at and about Elon was the foundation for some of the most vital interactions in his daily life. “Then the more I recognized what I find important, particularly in actions and my amazement with the human body … I realized that this is what I needed to do toward the tail end of substantial college,” he said.

In November 1997, Durand was just two several years aged when Jeff and his expecting spouse relocated to Elon. Coming from Utah, the plan was to return immediately after he graduated. The inadequate job and housing marketplaces in Utah at the time stated in any other case, and virtually a quarter century later on, he has crafted a house and occupation in Elon.

Jeff soon opened his have follow, Natural Bridges Physical Treatment, right down the avenue from the place the Schar Heart is now located. Organic Bridges is a smaller clinic the place Jeff only sees a single man or woman at a time for a total a person-hour session. His follow prioritizes a individualized working experience, something that is scarce in the existing well being treatment landscape but is a thing engrained in him from his time at Elon. Through the a long time, he has witnessed the capabilities and characteristics of Elon DPT students evolve.

“I have Elon’s DPT students occur to my clinic and they are just fantastic and seem to be so far ahead of wherever we were being when we graduated,” Jeff said. “They’re just world-course how they do what they do here.”

For the previous 3 many years, Durand has experienced Elon’s environment-class DPT plan firsthand, attaining an invaluable schooling whilst fostering further associations with Elon’s network of mentors. Now that he’s obtained his diploma, Durand has his sights on putting all that he attained from Elon to use on people who will need it.

“I have only absorbed information more than the previous numerous yrs of training and I’m all set to go out and modify how persons respond with their daily environments,” Durand said. “That’s the most fascinating element, to shift out of the university student part for the to start with time in my existence.”

As he embarks on this submit-Elon journey, Durand stated he’d be remiss to not acknowledge that his student accomplishment has been seriously motivated by some others, which includes his father.

“The connections that he’s assisted me to make has definitely facilitated far more and a lot more of those men and women that have paved the way for me to get to in which I am now,” Durand reported. “I stand on the shoulders of giants.”

And ever the supportive father, Jeff has no uncertainties that his son will make a variance.

“I’m ecstatic seeing Durand pick out and establish what he wishes to come to be. All along, I have been so shocked by how he’s done it himself. I experienced no strings to pull, he just did it. He’s designed his individual type, his possess way of performing with it and he’s heading to make a large amount of people’s lives far better,” Jeff said.