School Update: Rough Start, Smooth Finish

It’s the end of August and the 2023-2024 school year just wrapped up. It’s a weird feeling. I was super excited leading up to the end of the summer term which would mean I was half-way through the exercise science program at my school. But, then I realized my birthday was coming up.

^{This was me in August 2023, day before my birthday, trying to figure out how it came to this. I never figured it out…}

The lead up to my birthday also marked the one-year anniversary of abruptly leaving my job last year. It was a super traumatic event for me and my family. And I’m just now realizing that I never really healed that hurt. But that’s for another post.

I want to give an update on how school went for me this year.

I actually started at my community college in winter of the 2022-2023 school year. Because of how the program is set up and all of the transfer credits I had, I didn’t really get to do much of the exercise science focused classes until this school year.

Once I was able to dive into my major, everything just felt right.

I learned a lot about fitness assessments, exercise regressions and progressions, injury prevention and safety, and instruction. We went over nutrition and exercise physiology. We took a mental health first aid course. I added a class on developmental disabilities. And this was also the year I decided to become a yoga instructor.

It has been an amazing year for me. I learned so much. It was a lot of hard work and rough days. But, I finally feel like this is the path for me.

I am starting a new part-time job in September as an adaptive and inclusive yoga teacher. I’m designing workshops and classes that I hope to teach at other centers. And I’m continuing my education with the hopes of going to PSU in the Fall of 2025 for Applied Health and Fitness.