Students looking for careers as fitness and athletic trainers along with a host of other careers can find hands-on experience as interns in Moorpark College’s Fitness Specialist program.
Kinesiology instructor Jeff Kreil said the two-year-old certificate program prepares students for the real world of work in the fields of fitness, athletic training, team conditioning, physical therapy, post rehabilitation clinical work and even nutrition coaching.
“It acts as a springboard to physical fitness careers,” said Kreil.
The Exercise Science Fitness Specialist Certificate of Achievement requires 12 units of core courses and an additional six units to be chosen from a field of electives. The internship, which is not a required component, is among the most valuable offered, Kreil said. Kriel said that 24 Hour Fitness accepts the Certificate as evidence of qualification for employment.
Students who take on the internships move their learning beyond classroom textbooks and into the gymnasium where they work directly with their assigned clientele, who are often on staff at Moorpark.
“The internship is one of the best things they can do to tell the employer that I’ve not only completed the course work, but I have 15 weeks of practical experience with clients and working with groups. Employers want to spend as little time as possible training new employees. They want them to hit the ground running, and that’s what the internships do.”
Kreil explained that the clients, usually college staff and faculty, have a choice of whether to work one-on-one with their trainer, with a buddy or in a group setting.
During the typical 30-minute to an hour sessions, the fitness interns instruct their clients on how to do various exercises, ranging from weight training, to resistance, and even core.
Fitness intern Nick Macke, 20, explained the different type of experience the program has given him overall.
“You get one-on-one experience, individuals, and even teams. I have worked with a fit lab group before and also the women’s basketball team,” said Macke.
Fellow kinesiology student Jennifer Opaskit, 21, said she has learned a lot both in and out of the gymnasium.
“As a whole I have learned above-and-beyond people skills. I have learned everything about life, and a good amount of human movement and psychology,” said Opaskit.
To learn more about the internships, visit the program’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MoorparkCollegeFitnessSpecialist.
