Internship Opportunities
As an intern in the Exercise Science program at Western you will have an opportunity to apply your exercise science knowledge and skills in a real-life setting. Exercise science theory and skills are taught in courses such as: fitness leadership, exercise physiology, internship training workshops, and personal trainer review courses.
You will learn to:
- Monitor heart rates using a stethoscope, palpating for pulse, and using heart rate monitors
- Take blood pressure using both digital and manual cuffs,
- Perform body-fat testing using bioelectrical impedance and body fat calipers
- Perform fitness testing for strength, flexibility and cardiorespiratory endurance
- Demonstrate the use of fitness equipment to participants
- Monitor the Wellness Center and Weight Room
In addition, you will get hands-on practice by working with classroom instructors and various health professionals and fitness experts in the community by:
- Participating in healthy back workshops, health fairs, wellness projects, and fitness festivals
- Working at local recreation centers and physical therapy clinics
- Organizing and managing the campus fitness fest
- Maintaining wellness bulletin boards by retrieving scientific articles on health, nutrition, and fitness
- Learning to use nutrition software for dietary analysis
- Helping others to use Swiss balls, medicine balls, BOSU trainers, core boards, exercise tubing, and exercise bands
Internship Profile - Kelly Maer
After Texas native, Kelly Maer, earned a journalism degree at the University of Arizona, she moved to the mountains and became an avid skier and mountain biker. After suffering several injuries, she learned she had both weak abdominal and back muscles. “I would lie in bed for days with back pain. It wasn’t until I started physical therapy that I was told I needed to do specific exercises to strengthen these areas.” In time the pain became so severe that she visited a musculoskeletal physician in Houston who helped her with her rehabilitation. “My flexibility improved and I began strengthening exercises again. I started to think, Why couldn’t I do something like this as a career?”
Kelly searched the Internet for personal trainer certifications. “Because I already had a bachelor’s degree, I didn’t want to return to school for four more years. I also needed hands-on training. The WWCC program was the first I located on the Internet that met my needs,” she said. “I checked out other schools, but they just didn’t compare. As soon as I walked into the exercise science department and met everyone, I knew I was going there.”
Kelly said she liked the “less intimidating feeling of the college.” Kelly expressed her satisfaction with the Exercise Science program by saying, “Tanya Fitschen is a great instructor. Dorothy Harton and Bud Chew are amazing instructors as well. They care about students, and they take the time to help each individual student.” When speaking of her hands-on experiences, Kelly states, “I wouldn’t get this opportunity [at this level] at a large institution—no way.”
Kelly is currently pursuing her masters in exercise science at Boise State in Idaho. She plans to work in a corporate or hospital setting after completing her masters degree.
