As she adjusted to life after a spinal cord injury, Eden Schroeder discovered her career path and reignited a longtime passion. The 24-year-old Decatur resident is a clinical psychology doctoral student on Mercer University’s Atlanta campus and a competitive para swimmer.
Schroeder, who is originally from Florida, grew up swimming competitively and moved to the Atlanta area in high school. During her first semester at Florida State University in 2020 at age 18, she suffered a cervical spinal cord injury during a diving accident while boating, resulting in paralysis from the chest down and in her hands and triceps.
She recovered and adapted through the specialized care and support at Shepherd Center rehabilitation hospital in Atlanta. Among the center’s resources, Schroeder was able to try modified versions of various sports, including rugby, biking, kayaking, horseback riding, snow skiing and scuba diving. The latter paved the way for her to join the center’s competitive para swim team, which travels to national and international meets.
Para swimmers are grouped for competition using a S1-S14 classification system, with S1 being the most physically impaired class. Schroeder is the only female S1 para swimmer actively competing in the country, and one of only two in the world.
“It’s been great stress relief and personal care for me,” Schroeder said 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 team for about three years, and she’s participated in two international competitions and three nationals, as well as regional events. She qualified for the Paris Paralympics in 2024 but wasn’t selected for the U.S. team.
She has scaled back her participation since starting classes at Mercer in 2025, but she still swims at the Shepherd Center twice a week and goes to competitions when she can. This summer, she competed in the 50-meter freestyle and backstroke and the 100-meter freestyle and backstroke at the U.S. Paralympics Swimming National Championships in Boise, Idaho. Her next event is in October in Augusta.
Schroeder attributes not only her renewed passion for swimming but her career inspiration to the Shepherd Center. As she finished her bachelor’s degree online at Georgia State University, she knew she wanted to have a career in the healthcare realm but wasn’t sure in what capacity. Her interactions with a rehab psychologist at Shepherd led her to pursue clinical psychology, and the center’s educational specialist helped her navigate the steps to continue her education.
Schroeder discovered that Mercer’s College of Health Professions had one of only two American Psychology Association-accredited Doctor of Psychology programs in Georgia. She also received glowing recommendations for Mercer from her roommate and a friend, both of whom are Bears. In addition, she was already familiar with the University because, every fall since 2024, she has shared her story with physical therapy students learning about spinal cord injuries.
Schoeder got a service dog to help her transition to in-person graduate school, and the pair can be found together at every Mercer class. Schroeder’s peers and professors have fallen in love with Chippy, a labrador/golden retriever mix who will soon turn 4. Schroeder even dressed Chippy in her own 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 said.
This semester, Schroeder started the first of three year-long practicum experiences, which will be followed by an internship for her final academic year. She’s currently working with the Grady Health System Action in Recovery program, and she looks forward to seeing how other healthcare facilities function.
“I love just being able to practice the skills that we’ve learned so far,” she said. “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 complete the Psy.D. program in 2030. While she’s unsure of her specialty at the moment, she is certain that she wants to work in a hospital setting and that she’d like to work for the Shepherd Center for a while.
