By Sylvia Blair and Sharon Brunner

The new Health and Exercise Science (HES) Associate of Arts transfer program is quickly gaining popularity among students at Carroll Community College. Forty students selected HES as their major as of fall, 2007.

HES Faculty Advisor, Fitness Lab Coordinator, and Adjunct Instructor, Sharon Brunner said, “The students are so motivated to learn. Many of them have a personal interest in health, exercise, or sports and wish to move that interest into a professional career. It’s really exciting to see this program offering them that opportunity.”

The HES AA transfer program has two educational tracks designed to prepare students for the health and exercise science field. The Health Science track equips students for transfer to a community, public, or school health education bachelor’s degree program while the Exercise Science track readies students for transfer to an exercise science, kinesiology, physical education, or human performance bachelor’s degree program.

“A bachelor’s degree is essential to long-term success in the field. The two-year associate degree gets them started and allows the students to sit for certain certification exams, but we really encourage them to continue on for the four-year degree,” Ms. Brunner said.

“With increasing rates of obesity, chronic disease, and physically inactive lifestyles among Americans of all ages, health and exercise science career opportunities are on the rise,” she said.

“You no longer find these professionals confined to school health and fitness facilities,” she said. “Instead, there are more and more corporations, government agencies, hospitals, clinics, and retirement facilities looking to hire qualified health education and exercise professionals to help their employees, patients, clients, or residents live healthier lives. The sports and rehabilitative areas are also continuing to grow. This is increasing the demand for athletic trainers, physical therapists, strength and conditioning specialists, and coaching experts,” Ms. Brunner continued.

HES graduates are not only encouraged to transfer and complete a bachelor degree, but are also advised to look at certifications that enable them to gain valuable work experience after receiving their associate degree. “A high quality certification such as ACSM, and entry-level experience in the field makes a health and exercise science graduate extremely desirable to an employer. We not only stress education and certification, but also the importance of making contacts and gaining experience early on in our HES program,” Ms. Brunner said.

Carroll Community College, in partnership with the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), has been a host site for ACSM’s Certified Personal Trainer Exam Preparation Workshop since January, 2007. It will also host ACSM’s Certified Health Fitness Instructor Exam Preparation Workshop for the first time this July. “ACSM has been a leader in the health and fitness credentialing industry for decades. We have aligned our HES program of study with their standards to best prepare students with the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed in the field. We are very proud to be a host site for such an outstanding organization and look forward to helping students become ACSM- certified. ACSM certification will take them a long way in the field,” Ms. Brunner said.

For more information on this associate degree program, please contact Ms. Brunner atsbrunner@carrollcc.edu.

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