“You are more than capable of beating the odds and chasing your dreams and doing what it is that you want to do.”
Wise words spoken by Morgan Scacchitti, a McKees Rocks native, Sto-Rox graduate, and occupational therapist who is living proof of that statement. Her McKees Rocks roots run deep - like, first day of her life deep.
Morgan Scacchitti in 2014, when she graduated from Sto-Rox.
“I was born in McKees Rocks, and I spent my whole life in the same house,” she said. My mom went to Sto-Rox. My grandfather went to Sto-Rox. And my grandfather was actually raised in the same house I was raised in.”
Scacchitti graduated from Sto-Rox High School in 2014, after cheerleading for the Vikings and playing softball. Along the way, a couple of Sto-Rox staffers played a key role, like Deborah Finklang, who still teaches English and French.
“I loved her,” said Scacchitti. “She was definitely someone who saw my potential.”
The same goes for Joe Herzing, guidance counselor for grades 10-12.
“I was in his office all the time,” she gushed. “My senior year they were both extremely helpful on that journey.”
That journey took Scacchitti to Penn State University, with a two-year stint at the Altoona campus before finishing at the main campus with a degree in rehabilitation and human services. After that, it was time to change time zones - and climates.
“After I graduated I wanted something different than Pittsburgh, specifically warm weather,” she laughed. “So I moved to Arizona with family I had out there.”
Scacchitti later in her career, as she achieved her doctoral degree.
For about a year, she worked with Big Brothers Big Sisters, and loved it. Soon after, she was accepted into a doctoral program at Touro University Nevada, just outside Las Vegas. However, while her studies went well, her taste for the desert abated.
“I missed the green, and a little bit of the seasons. I didn’t miss Winter, but I did miss the other seasons.”
Fortunately for Scacchitti, her mother gave her an opening.
“So my mom had moved to Atlanta,” she explained, “and I decided to follow her.”
That move brings us to the present day, where Scacchitti is waiting for her state licensure after passing the exam required by the Georgia State Board of Occupational Therapy. She’s not twiddling her thumbs, though.
“I'm going to have two jobs - there are two part-time jobs,” she explained. “I will have my job at Emory (University Hospital). And that is an inpatient rehab position…working with people post-stroke, brain injury or spinal cord injury.”
Emory University Hospital is a world-renowned center for medicine. U.S. News & World Report has ranked Emory the top hospital in Georgia and metropolitan Atlanta for the 11th year in a row. It counts many leading physicians on its staff, including CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanja Gupta.
Scacchitti isn’t satisfied with working there, however. This month, while she waits for her license, she will start working at an outpatient pediatric clinic.
“I'll be working with children, primarily with autism and behavioral deficits,” she said. “Excited, but nervous.”
Those nerves disappear, though, when speaks about her upbringing and education in the Sto-Rox School District. She doesn’t hide her pride, in spite of outsiders’ misconceptions.
“I feel like a lot of surrounding communities kind of might look down on us,” she said. “And that's just something that you kind of have to take with you and turn it into something positive.”
She knows from experience that Sto-Rox students can overcome barriers, real or perceived.
“I know so many of my classmates at the time had kind of experienced that stereotype, ‘We’re from “The Rocks” and we're probably not going to do much with our lives,’ but you're more than capable of doing what it is that you want to do.”
Important words from a McKees Rocks native who has turned her passion into reality.
“You have the power to do that and to prove everyone wrong.”