What do you do when you have two dreams? Oftentimes, one is sacrificed for the sustainability of the other. But for Stephanie Geislinger, the best of both worlds really is possible. Geislinger, née Wojton, competed college gymnastics for Winona State, graduating in 2013. Immediately after, she pursued her first passion for a career in physical therapy, finishing graduate school and acquiring a job working with athletes.
During her first physical therapy job, she helped rehab gymnasts, cheerleaders and dancers from various injuries, helping them return to the sports they loved. That was one of the reasons Geislinger chose to enter the PT field in the first place. She pointed toward her time in physical therapy as an athlete as her driving force to entering the profession for herself, stating “I just found [my physical therapist] to be someone who really inspired me to get back into the sport again, to take an injury as it comes and continue to work through it and be motivated. I really enjoyed my time in physical therapy, and I just wanted to be that person for someone else one day.”
After her husband finished his postgraduate education, the couple moved back to where it all began in Winona, allowing for the opportunity to join the college’s gymnastics…
