Meet Sister Marie Kopin

Sister Marie is a clinical supervisor in speech- language pathology at Central Michigan University. Her specialty is establishing a student-training clinic with English as a Second Language students from places such as Thailand, Korea, Portugal, Poland, China, and Brazil.

I chose to be a Sister after doing much searching among a number of religious communities. Since I was already a fully credentialed teacher (speech correction) at the Michigan School for the Deaf, I picked a community with a focus on spirituality, instead of others which seemed to focus on a type of work. I was very much attracted to the Precious Blood spirituality, and the generosity and openness of the Sisters about many things, and I have not been disappointed.

My grandparents' strong faith had a lot to do with my vocation; they came from Poland during the early 1900s to set up a new life here and brought the faith with them.

When I joined in 1962, I was a "delayed" vocation because I had a bachelor's degree from Central Michigan University and had taught two years. I simply fell in love with the people I met who were CPPS in Flint, MI, (my hometown) and those I met in Dayton at the Central House area. I was allowed to pursue my chosen career in Speech Pathology and Vocal Music Education, especially since our CPPS community has never adopted a focus on a special type of ministry.

I find that our community has allowed me and other Sisters to move onward toward up-to-date trends in religious life, serving others, and in developing professionally, and spiritually. I have worked in three public school systems as a Speech Pathologist, obtained a master's degree at the University of Michigan, an Educational Specialist's degree at Central Michigan University, and am completing a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration at The University of Virginia.

At present, I am a clinical supervisor in speech-language pathology at the Department of Communication Disorders at Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant, MI. My specialty, right now, is establishing a student-training clinic with ESL (English as a Second Language) students who come from places such as Thailand, Korea, Portugal, Poland, China, and Brazil. I supervise 13 beginning clinicians and several in our graduate program, and will also supervise a number of students and clients in an intensive six-week "live-in-on-campus" Summer Remedial Clinics Program for kids age 5 through 25 with speech-language-and hearing problems.

More avenues are opening up as I grow in my own faith, and grow professionally. One of my favorite mottoes is: "I am willing to let God direct my life." I am happy to take advantage of whatever God sends in my life. My special sideline now is eldercare since my Mom is now 86 and needs assistance. Who knows? Maybe I can specialize in consulting to caretakers of the elderly later on?

Follow these links to other information on our Web site.