Date: November 14,2016
Today was supposed to be an initial meeting, but as Lisa is constantly involved in projects around campus, it was not that simple. Lisa had meetings with several sports and wellness organizations around campus and I was able to sit in on these meetings. This was a perfect opportunity to begin to develop the work plan. Speaking with members of all of these organizations I was able to find several opportunities to grow personally through many experiences. The main projects that I will be working on during this mentorship will be preparing and developing several sports events and health and wellness events and programs.
Time: 12:00 to 4:00 Hours: 4 Hours Total: 4
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Date: November 15, 2016
Today I spent time on campus corresponding with Lisa as I developed a plan for this mentorship. We discussed the ways that these projects work together with one another and the ways that they are involved with one another. We also discussed ways that I can play a large role in sports events around campus.
Time: 1:00 to 6:00 pm Hours:5 Hours Total:9
Date: November 16,2016
Lisa and I had discussed a way to increase revenue for the sport programs on campus. This idea was to set up a merchandise store at the events. This store could sell items ranging from apparel for the sports teams to fitness trackers, as the winter sporting events are near the gym facilities. As I have today and tomorrow off work, I will spend these days researching profit margins and other variables, including if there are paid or unpaid workers selling the merchandise.
Time: 10:00 am- 6:00 pm Hours:8 Hours Total:17
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Date: November 17, 2016
Staffing seems to be an issue for these events, while interns and volunteers would likely be willing to sell items, there would be times when the items would go unsold. Another option I found was being able to create and sell customized apparel that the customer could order and Lorain County Community College would get a portion of the profits.
Time: 10:00am- 6:00 Pm Hours:8 Hours Total:26
Date: November 18,2016
I began working for a few hours and I met with Lisa to have a few more meetings and I felt slightly dizzy while completing some tasks, I worked for just 4 hours today before needing to go home. I fainted and ended up being hospitalized for exhaustion. The doctors told me that I had been burning myself out by working, completing the mentorship, and completing a full time graduate student course load.
While I was enjoying completing a portion of the hours for this mentorship and getting into a nice groove, the doctor advised me to complete my courses and to potentially work on the internship more over winter break.
Time: 12:00 to 4:00 pm Hours:4 Hours Total:30
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Date: November 21, 2016
I spoke with Lisa today and she suggested a few projects that I could begin working on under her supervision, that did not have as strict of a timeline. While it was embarrassing that I was at the point of exhaustion, I was relieved that I would be able to continue this mentorship.
Time: 10:00am to 12:00pm Hours:2 Hours Total: 32
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Date: December 1,2016
One of the primary tasks that I have been assigned to during this semester is preparing the website for the Tobacco Free 2017 campaign. Lorain County Community College is going to be completely tobacco free by August 1,2017. Today I reached out to other campuses that had made this change and examined their websites for good ideas that Lorain County Community College could implement. I presented Lisa with this research via email.
Time: 12:00pm-6:00 pm Hours: 6 Hours Total: 38
Date: December 9,2016
While it was nice to take a week off for winter break, I realized that it would be beneficial to continue researching today and to correspond with Lisa. Today I presented Lisa with the research I had been preparing and we set up a few more times to meet and discuss the upcoming semester and the events that would be taking place.
Time:10:00 to 12:00 Hours: 2 Hours Total: 40
Date: December 16,2016
I have decided to dedicate today and next Friday to this mentorship, then to take a break until Tiffin courses begin in a few weeks. Today I completed more research on the athletic events that would be taking place during the upcoming semester. This included the Special Olympics basketball tournament. I reached out to the event coordinator and got a few ideas of ways that I could help with the event.
Time: Hours:5 Hours Total:45
Date: December 23,2016
While I wanted to be further with my hours at this point, I am happy to have completed 50 hours. I have an outline of the projects that I will be working on this upcoming semester, and I have left a little room for projects that will present themselves throughout the semester.
Time: Hours:5 Hours Total:50
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Date: January 9, 2017
While today was my first day of class, I wanted to really start buckling down on this mentorship. I met with Lisa again today to get access to supplies I would need for the upcoming week. As the following week was called “welcome week” it was important that the sports and wellness programs have a presence at these events. We would be marketing athletic events and campaigns in areas that would have the largest student populations.
Time:12:00- 3:00pm Hours:3 Hours Total:53
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Date: January 17,2017
Today I was responsible for transporting, setting up, organizing and distributing marketing information for sporting events and campaigns associated with athletics and wellness around campus. I found that I could not go at a very high energy for the entire day. I was exhausted after a couple of hours and had to take a break to refresh myself. I had a prize wheel with prizes associated with LCCC athletics. Students were excited to hear about the upcoming events, but more excited to win prizes.
Time: 11:00am- 8:00pm Hours:9 Hours Total:62
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Date: January 19,2017
Today was similar to Tuesday, I was able to promote upcoming events and network with leaders of other organizations around campus. While these were two long days, I am gaining an understanding of the importance of having a presence around campus. I felt that I learned a valuable lesson in marketing athletics this week.
Time: 11:00am- 8:00pm Hours:9 Hours Total:71
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Date: January 24,2017
Today was the first day that I was able to shadow Lisa as she taught a course. This course was for students that are nearly finished with their associate’s degree. I was a resource for these students if they had questions on where to intern, Lisa also asked me to shadow this course so that I could find other interns to assist with larger projects.
Time: 12:00- 4:00 pm Hours:4 Hours Total:75
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January 31,2017
I met with Lisa and the undergraduate interns today. I was happy to help the other interns find opportunities and to offer advice. While this is a mentorship, I feel that Lisa put me in this situation to show the importance of helping others. Lisa also suggested that I meet with a member of the community on behalf of Lorain County Community College to discuss the impacts of local health and changes that cn be made.
Time: 1:00- 5:00 pm Hours:4 Total 79
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Date: February 1 ,2017
Today I met with Mrs. D (community member) on Lisa’s suggestion. I feel that this was the most beneficial aspect of this mentorship so far. Meeting with a member of the community showed me the interests of the community and the projects that I can mention to Lisa. I feel that good businesses, sports related or not, should have a pulse on the community and their needs. While this discussion was lengthy, the takeaways were worth the time spent.
Time: 8:00am- 1:00 pm Hours:5 Hours Total: 84
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Date: February 2 ,2017
Today I took action on the learnings from yesterday. I reached out to other members of the community and I found a common interest. While everyone wants access to health and fitness, the people in Lorain feel like there are no options. I reached out to business owners in the area to potentially host events providing this information. I was aware that Lorain County Community College already offers events like this, and I brainstormed ways to promote them. I found that the majority of the target demographic was using Facebook. I began putting together advertisements for these events and prepared my findings to present to Lisa.
Time:8:00 am-4:00 pm Hours: 8 Hours Total: 92
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Date: February 3 ,2017
Today was another long day of researching and compiling information. I took my initial findings and presented them in apa format. Several of the ideas I researched are below. These ideas focus on
Health Project Ideas
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Facebook group that can provide healthy recipes, motivation, and can serve as a promotion channel for upcoming events
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Partnerships with Fligners Market or potentially Aldi (these are local markets)
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Create infographics and posts regarding the health risks of consuming too much sugar
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“Know your food” talks at schools, to teams, to families that are concerned with health
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Health talks on the beaches of Lorain, encouraging healthier food choices
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Gathering opinions of a diverse group to understand how to reach the largest number of people
Time:12:00-8:00 Pm Hours: 8 Hours Total: 100
Date: February 6,2017
As we had discussed earlier, Lisa put me in charge of developing the frequently asked questions for the Tobacco Free 2017 campaign website. I prefer to be thorough with projects like this and I had decided to focus on 3 topics. Why tobacco is not allowed on campus, e-cigarettes, and benefits of smoking cessation. Truthfully, I spent most of my time researching and compiling information on the first and third topics. While research on e-cigarettes is not as well published yet, I will finish researching that topic tomorrow
Time: Hours:6:00 am- 2:45 pm Hours Total: 107.5
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Date: February 7,2017
I was able to find great information on e-cigarettes today, I found that they are not a safe alternative to cigarettes like some may argue. The importance of this project was to be thorough in research and to adhere to deadlines. I submitted the final document to Lisa today. I have also attached it to this page. I am proud of my work on this topic.
Time:7:00 am- 2:00 pm Hours: 7 Hours Total: 114.5
Date: February 11,2017
Today was physically and mentally exhausting. Today was the day of a sports event on campus. Lisa emphasized the importance of this event for the campus. The proceeds went to a scholarship fund that I was fortunate enough to earn when I was an undergraduate. There were 6 interns working this event, and two paid staff members. There were many little issues that arose throughout the day, many of which involved questions related to operations. I feel that an improvement that could have been made would be having written instructions for each volunteer. Social media and print were used as means of marketing this event. There was a large turnout. Lisa and I had previously discussed the budget and many of the operations related elements of this event. It was great to be able to see the “behind the scenes” of a sports event and to see all of the efforts that come together. While I am exhausted, I found that this was a rewarding experience.
Time:6:00 am- 2:00 pm Hours:8 Hours Total: 122.5
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Date: February 28 ,2017
Today there was a meeting for the tobacco free advocates on campus. Being Lisa’s mentee allows me to sit in and offer a student opinion and contribute to the conversation. This is a group of well-respected officials on campus. When I arrived at the meeting I saw on the agenda that the FAQs that I had written would be discussed. I remember feeling nervous. This was the first time that my work would be judged by this group. I presented my work to the group, and it was well received. I was happy that my hours of work were going to contribute to this project.
Time:12:00- 4:00 PM Hours:4 Hours Total: 126.5
Date: March 2,2017
Today was another sporting event on campus. Lisa suggested that I help with this event, as it is one of the largest events on campus throughout the year. I had many roles during my time here. When I arrived, I began setting up the tables and concessions. I met with event coordinators and interviewed them for a few minutes on the amount of volunteer and paid help that goes into hosting an event of that size. Hundreds of athletes and fans packed the campus.
I was scheduled to leave at 6 pm, however, there were volunteers that had signed up and did not show up, so I decided not to leave everyone with a greater work load. While reflecting on this event and the things I would do differently, I cannot say that I would have changed much. While no one can guarantee that volunteers will show up, an alternative may be accepting more volunteers than needed, to have some in case of emergency.
Time:1:00- 9:00 pm Hours:8 Hours Total: 134.5
Date: March 7,2017
Today I met with Lisa and we discussed the next several weeks of this mentorship. As the second half of the semester always seems to go quickly, we decided to discuss what was working so far and changes that need to be made. We discussed an event the last week of the mentorship that would account for a large amount of hours as well as topics that I feel were not covered yet. I felt that I had spent a lot of time working with the programs, but I wanted to explore more of the behind the scenes of the sports programs. I wanted to work with a budget and learn more about the process of getting price quotes and to explore the actual cost of running a sports event. We decided to meet again on Monday, March 13,2017 to further discuss this.
Time:12:00- 4:00pm Hours:4 Hours Total:138.5
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Date: March 10 ,2017
A primary project we are working on this semester is finding ways to get the community more involved at Lorain County Community College. One of these ways is creating public health events. One of these events is a heart healthy one mile walk through the “heart” of campus. Lorain County Community College has a beautiful campus, and advertising this to the community can not only market the campus, but provide a resource to the community. Today, Lisa and I mapped out the path for the one mile walk, and we discussed the possibilities of this program. It was a cold day, and we walked many miles measuring the amount of steps taken each time. There were many areas that Lisa wanted to be included in the path.
Time: 9:00-5:00 Hours:8 Hours Total:146.5
Date: March 15,2017
I met with Lisa today and we discussed the many influences on the yearly budget. I feel that today was very insightful and I got to see the “behind the scenes” of the athletic and wellness programs. There were several yearly meetings that took place that day discussing the budget and potential changes that would take place. We looked at the needs of the program and discussed ways that funds could be allocated more effectively. One issue we found was that there was an area that was becoming more popular and needed more hours. We drew up a proposal for this change and listed the many ways that this change would benefit the students and faculty. I was not aware of the many steps needed to make a small budgetary change.
Time:9:00-5:00 Hours:8 Hours Total: 154.5
Date: March 21 ,2017
Lisa and I had discussed several ways for me to network during this mentorship. We found a way that would allow me to provide a valuable experience for undergraduate students while networking. I would interview business owners and health and wellness professionals and provide insights from the interviews to the undergraduate students in a presentation. This afternoon I made the trip out to interview Marty Thompson of T3 performance.
Marty Thompson Interview Questions
If you could go back and give yourself advice as you were planning on opening/opening your business, what would it be?
It is a job where you do more than the “book stuff.” being good with people is very important. People are spending time with you, people have to like you. Those that do well are people that people like. Patience is key in business, wait until you are comfortable to grow. Don’t start out and want to be a business owner right off the bat.
What is the best and worst advice you were given as you started this venture?
This was a newer field then. The path wasn’t laid out for him. Get as much real experience as you can. Learn and grow. As much as possible. Take the risks, network. Understand before you jump in.Where do you think the fitness industry will be in the coming years? What can a business owner/ manager do to adapt to these changes?
Technology is going to be huge, we are always using new ways to get better. Athletes want new technology. There will be a crossover with health care. There will be more value on personal trainers.
How involved are you with the marketing of your business?
Very little. Social media is key. Social media can get people in the doors. Word of mouth and networking are important. Talking to potential customers. Connecting with people
Are there any other pieces of information that you feel an intern pursuing a career in health and wellness should have?
Expose yourself to all fitness avenues, have an understanding of all of them. Find the one that resonates with you
One book I recommend is Greg Cook athletic body and balance
This is a passionate field. If there is no passion for helping others, it won’t be a great fit. It is more than liking exercise, people will respond to how you treat them. Look forward to work.
Crossfit will be a trend that increases in popularity.
Time: Hours:8 Hours Total: 162.5
Date: March 22,2017
Holly and amber interview
Today I interviewed Holly W. and Amber K. These two are very involved with health and wellness in many ways. Amber managed a fitness facility and she now works as a manager in a health organization.
Holly is a group exercise instructor and an entrepreneur. Lisa and I felt that their insights would be helpful to undergraduate students as they pursue careers in fitness and wellness. There were many similarities in all of the interviews so far. Staying current and networking are two similarities. This is good advice in all fields.
Time: 9:00-5:00 Hours:8 Hours Total: 170.5
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Date: April 3, 2017
Brandon F. interview.
Today I went to Anytime Fitness in Avon, Ohio to interview Brandon Fleming for a presentation for this mentorship. I sat with Brandon for quite some time and we discussed the operations aspects of his business. I was able to connect and network with many of the employees there and I gained a better understanding of how these franchise gyms operate. As I am coming closer to the end of this mentorship, I am finding many similarities between the business of Lorain County Community College and other businesses in the fitness and wellness industry. I have found that knowing the industry and you "customer" is essential, even if those customers are students. I am happy that I have selected this location for this mentorship, as I feel that it has provided me with real world experience for the type of business I would like to start. If I were to start the HPER program at LCCC over from scratch, there are a few changes I would make. One of these changes would be to establish courses that have a higher ROI (return on investment) for students. Having more business courses would be beneficial, and an interpersonal communications course would also be useful. These skills are the ones that are being requested by employers in the field, as I am preparing my presentation for the undergraduate students.
Time: 10:00 am to 4:30 Hours 6.5 Total 177
Date: April 4,2017
Undergraduate presentation
Today I was able to make one of my dreams become a reality. I was able to present the information I had learned in my journey in the health and wellness industry to the undergraduate students. Lisa noted that I had wanted to work on networking and public speaking during this mentorship, so this was a way for me to accomplish both. Since the beginning of this mentorship, I had been conducting interviews to present to the undergraduate students as a way to present information "I wish I had been told." I interviewed managers, owners, marketing directors, nutrition counselors, and anyone else that I thought would be useful for the undergraduate students to learn from. This presentation went well, and it was well received. It felt good to be able to do this for the students, and for myself.
Time: 8:00-3:00 Hours 6 Total 183
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Date: April 7, 2017
Today was the first day of a workshop on campus. This is an exciting time for me, as I recently began working on campus. I now really feel like I am making an impact here. So many people have helped me and now I have a leadership role, and I am able to help others. Today, I was able to assist the instructor with several things, including the use of technology and other resources. Knowing this is the last weekend of this mentorship is very bittersweet. I was not expecting employment as a result of this experience. I am very pleased that this was a result though.
Time 9:00-5:00 Hours 8 Total 191
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Date: April 8, 2017
Today was the second day of this workshop on campus, if I were not working here on Monday, I would feel that I would miss this campus. Lorain County Community College has had such a large impact on who I am as a person. Reflecting on this mentorship, I can say that this was the largest period of growth in my professional life. I updated my resume, networked, got started with LinkedIn, and so much more. Without the support of everyone here, mainly Lisa, many of these changes would not have been made.
Time 1:00-9:00 Hours 8 Total 199
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April 9, 2017
Today was the third day of this workshop on campus. I am pleased that this will complete the documented hours for this mentorship. However, my work with Lorain County Community College is far from over. Lisa and I have already discussed me coming back to give presentations to her classes in this future. Thinking back to when I first met Lisa, in an introductory course, I would not have guessed that she would play such a large role in my professional career. I am thankful for this opportunity, and I am very excited for what the future holds for me here , at Lorain County Community College.
Time 1:00- 9:00 Hours 8 Total 207