You are invited to participate in a physical activity and exercise service learning classroom
Members of the Mount Community,
Happy New Year! Individuals often begin a new year with aspirations of making changes in their health.
Be more active, lose weight, gain muscle, choose healthier options, improve sleep, reduce stress.
Would you like an accountability partner to support your efforts? Help us help you!
The Department of Exercise Science and Integrative Health seeks to support our campus community’s health and well-being while also empowering our students through engaging experiential learning.
This semester, two of our courses are seeking volunteers to engage in in-class projects in HES 226 – Human Nutrition (TR 1:40 – 2:55) and ESC 323 – Health Assessment and Exercise Prescription Lab (T or H 9:25 – 11:00).
The Dietary Analysis project would seek volunteers willing to meet with students for an initial introduction and dietary intake meeting, recording dietary intake for several days, allowing students working in pairs to review the data, and follow up meetings over several weeks to engage in health behavior coaching. This course is led by Leslie Edwards, MS, RDN, a registered dietician who will supervise and guide students in this review of dietary data and recommendations based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. We are seeking 8- 10 individuals to serve a course of 17 students.
The Physical Activity and Exercise project was previously announced at the end of the Fall semester and is further described below. This is a health and fitness assessment and exercise programming project. Volunteers would meet with students working in pairs for an initial introduction, health history review, biometric and fitness assessment, followed by several weeks of individualized exercise programming and follow-up meeting to engage in health behavior coaching. I will be leading the project and have several decades of experience assessing and guiding individuals in the rehabilitation, fitness, weight management, and behavior change process to achieve health goals and outcomes. We are looking for 5 – 6 individuals to serve as fitness clients in our lab class.
Previous participants have reported improved confidence with dietary choices, improved knowledge of recommended nutrient needs, enhanced health and fitness outcome measures, and overall enjoyment interacting with students.
If interested in participating, please contact Dr. BC Charles-Liscombe BC.Charles-Liscombe@msj.edu with your preferred contact information (Name, e-mail, and telephone number) and any questions or concerns you may have. Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PARQ+) and a medical history form will be sent to those volunteering.
Please respond by February 1 with questions or interest.
Thank you for considering this request and being a part of this endeavor.
In order to participate, you must…
- Be over 18 years of age
- Be available for in person and virtual meetings based on the schedule provided (see below)
- Be willing to participate in an exercise program (10 weeks) designed to meet your short-term fitness/health goals. Student exercise professionals will make 8 weeks of exercise programming, therefore, concerted efforts to adhere is needed by volunteers.
- Have had a blood lipid and diabetes risk profile (fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, HbA1C) within the last 6 months OR be willing to have the student exercise professional take a finger stick to obtain your blood values.
- Complete a PAR-Q+ health history questionnaire.
- If the health history questionnaire recommends medical clearance to exercise, you must provide a doctor’s approval to participate. Those with complex comorbities may be excluded based on complexity of care and medical supervision to exercise required.
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In order to participate, you cannot…
- Be medically disqualified from physical activity
Below are the schedule requirements for participation:
- Week 1: Week of February 15
- Must be available for a 1-hour (minimum) meeting in person (see dates/times below) to receive pre-exercise health evaluation, review health history, engage in a motivational interview and set physical activity and exercise goals.
- Available times to meet with students:
- Tuesday or Thursday 9:30-11:55 am
- Available times to meet with students:
- Must be available for a 1-hour (minimum) meeting in person (see dates/times below) to receive pre-exercise health evaluation, review health history, engage in a motivational interview and set physical activity and exercise goals.
- Week 2: Week of February 22
- Must be available for a 1-hour (minimum) meeting on Tuesday or Thursday between 9:30-11:55 AM in person to have resting health evaluated and participate in fitness testing (cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength and endurance, and range of motion).
- Will need to dress appropriately and be prepared to exercise
- Must be available for a 1-hour (minimum) meeting on Tuesday or Thursday between 9:30-11:55 AM in person to have resting health evaluated and participate in fitness testing (cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength and endurance, and range of motion).
- Week 3: Week of March 1
- In person meetings to review preliminary exercise program or workout with student exercise professionals
- Must be available to meet in person on Tuesday or Thursday between 9:30-11:55 AM in person) to discuss success/challenges for Week 2 and recommend modifications
- Week 4: Week of March 9 – Spring Break – Continue independent Exercise – No meetings
- Week 5: Week of March 15
- In person meetings to review exercise program or workout with student exercise professionals
- Must be available to meet in person to discuss success/challenges for Week 4 and recommend modifications.
- If interested, exercise clients will receive instruction in the use of a Dexcom Stelo Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) to wear during a two week period in the exercise protocol.
- Week 6: Week of March 22
- In person meetings to review exercise program or workout with student exercise professionals
- Must be available to meet in person (day and time determined by participant and student clinicians) to discuss success/challenges for Week 5 and recommend modifications
- Week 7: Week of March 29
- In person meetings to review exercise program or workout with student exercise professionals
- Must be available to meet in person (day and time determined by participant and student clinicians) to discuss success/challenges for Week 5 and recommend modifications
- Week 8: Week of April 5
- In person meetings to review exercise program or workout with student exercise professionals
- Must be available to meet in person (day and time determined by participant and student clinicians) to discuss success/challenges for Week 5 and recommend modifications
- Week 9: Week of April 12
- In person meetings to review exercise program or workout with student exercise professionals
- Must be available to meet in person (day and time determined by participant and student clinicians) to discuss success/challenges for Week 5 and recommend modifications
- Week 10: Week of April 19
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- Must be available for a 1-hour (minimum) meeting in person to conduct a follow up fitness assessment and end of project interview.
- Available times to meet with students:
- Tuesday or Thursday 9:30-11:55 am
- If the participant desires to have post-fitness assessments, they will need to meet with their student exercise professionals during this time.
- Tuesday or Thursday 9:30-11:55 am
- Available times to meet with students:
- Must be available for a 1-hour (minimum) meeting in person to conduct a follow up fitness assessment and end of project interview.
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- The student exercise professionals will send a project report and future recommendations for continued fitness goals by April 30th.
Thank you for considering this request and providing me with your interest. Previous employee involvement has been one of the high impact practices in our curriculum to enhance students confidence and communication abilities while working with clients.