Mercer scholar pursues passions within the classroom and the pool

As she adjusted to life after a spinal twine damage, Eden Schroeder found her profession path and reignited a longtime ardour. The 24-year-old Decatur resident is a medical psychology doctoral scholar on Mercer University’s Atlanta campus and a aggressive para swimmer.

Schroeder, who’s initially from Florida, grew up swimming competitively and moved to the Atlanta space in highschool. During her first semester at Florida State University in 2020 at age 18, she suffered a cervical spinal twine damage throughout a diving accident whereas boating, leading to paralysis from the chest down and in her fingers and triceps.

She recovered and tailored via the specialised care and assist at Shepherd Center rehabilitation hospital in Atlanta. Among the middle’s assets, Schroeder was capable of attempt modified variations of varied sports activities, together with rugby, biking, kayaking, horseback using, snow snowboarding and scuba diving. The latter paved the best way for her to affix the middle’s aggressive para swim staff, which travels to nationwide and worldwide meets.

Para swimmers are grouped for competitors utilizing a S1-S14 classification system, with S1 being probably the most bodily impaired class. Schroeder is the one feminine S1 para swimmer actively competing within the nation, and one among solely two on the planet.

“It’s been great stress relief and personal care for me,” Schroeder mentioned of swimming. “It’s a way for me to focus on myself and be able to do something completely independently and for physical exercise. You’re not tied to anything. I don’t need help from anyone besides transferring to get into the water. So it’s just very freeing, being able to move wherever I want on my own and pushing myself. It’s a very different experience than I’m used to now.”

Schroeder has been on the Shepherd swim staff for about three years, and she or he’s participated in two worldwide competitions and three nationals, in addition to regional occasions. She certified for the Paris Paralympics in 2024 however wasn’t chosen for the U.S. staff.

She has scaled again her participation since beginning lessons at Mercer in 2025, however she nonetheless swims on the Shepherd Center twice every week and goes to competitions when she will be able to. This summer time, she competed within the 50-meter freestyle and backstroke and the 100-meter freestyle and backstroke on the U.S. Paralympics Swimming National Championships in Boise, Idaho. Her subsequent occasion is in October in Augusta.

Schroeder attributes not solely her renewed ardour for swimming however her profession inspiration to the Shepherd Center. As she completed her bachelor’s diploma on-line at Georgia State University, she knew she wished to have a profession within the healthcare realm however wasn’t positive in what capability. Her interactions with a rehab psychologist at Shepherd led her to pursue medical psychology, and the middle’s instructional specialist helped her navigate the steps to proceed her training.

Schroeder found that Mercer’s College of Health Professions had one among solely two American Psychology Association-accredited Doctor of Psychology applications in Georgia. She additionally acquired glowing suggestions for Mercer from her roommate and a pal, each of whom are Bears. In addition, she was already conversant in the University as a result of, each fall since 2024, she has shared her story with bodily remedy college students studying about spinal twine accidents.

Schoeder received a service canine to assist her transition to in-person graduate college, and the pair might be discovered collectively at each Mercer class. Schroeder’s friends and professors have fallen in love with Chippy, a labrador/golden retriever combine who will quickly flip 4. Schroeder even dressed Chippy in her personal white coat for the white coat ceremony in May.

“Chippy is great with meeting people. There are so many people in my class that I became friends with through Chippy. So it’s nice to have her with me. Everybody loves Chippy,” she mentioned.

This semester, Schroeder began the primary of three year-long practicum experiences, which will likely be adopted by an internship for her closing tutorial yr. She’s at the moment working with the Grady Health System Action in Recovery program, and she or he appears ahead to seeing how different healthcare amenities operate.

“I love just being able to practice the skills that we’ve learned so far,” she mentioned. “I went into (Mercer) knowing I wanted to do rehab psychology, but now I’m kind of open to experiencing a lot more specialties. I think Mercer has opened my eyes to how much I could do with it.”

Shroeder expects to finish the Psy.D. program in 2030. While she’s uncertain of her specialty for the time being, she is for certain that she needs to work in a hospital setting and that she’d prefer to work for the Shepherd Center for some time.