Fitness activities often speed up the heart. The Fitness Buddies program also warms the heart.
At WEMOCO Career and Technical Education Center, BOCES 2 CTE Exercise Science students learn about exercise physiology, training, anatomy and nutrition to enter the workforce or continue their studies after high school.
Less than one mile away, Village Plaza One Transition Program students learn daily living skills, self-regulation, functional communication and socialization to thrive as independent and confident adults.
The paths of these students come together every Wednesday when the CTE students trek over to the Transition students and connect with their Fitness Buddies.
Through Fitness Buddies, two students from different programs and with different abilities are paired up to work through a variety of exercises. Exercise Science students demonstrate a skill, assist their buddy, offer words of encouragement and celebrate the Transition students’ victories, often with high fives.
“What Fitness Buddies is to me is getting together with other students and helping them improve,” said Caleb Quinn, an Exercise Science student and Spencerport senior.
Exercise Science Teacher John Strachan has not only seen his students applying their CTE program knowledge, but he has also watched their professional skills blossom.
“Two of my students have really taken charge in running the two separate groups we have, and they individually work with their own students,” said Strachan. “I have seen my students really get out of their comfort zones and become leaders to the Transition students by helping them exercise appropriately and motivating them to do it.”
Exercise Science students need to leverage their problem solving, observation and scaling skills to help their Fitness Buddies through activities.
“There’s obviously different levels of how people can do exercises,” said Quinn. “Scaling the activity is important because sometimes they’ll have trouble doing something or understanding how to do it, so by scaling it and bringing it back to the basics, it really helps them complete the exercises.”
Through their participation, Exercise Science students earn work-based learning hours, an indicator of real-world application of their industry-aligned knowledge. Quinn aspires to be a personal trainer after graduation, and he can see a direct tie to the work he’ll be doing in the future.
“In the real world, there are going to be people who are just trying to improve and are not at a level where they can do a certain skill yet, so I’d have to scale it down,” said Quinn.
“Corey is awesome,” added Quinn of his Fitness Buddy. “We always have a good time. We always get the workout done. Sometimes there may be a limitation we have to work around but Corey always works through it and adapts. He’s now increasing the weights he can use.”
Cindy Webster, Transition Program occupational therapist, has seen firsthand the kindness, patience and professionalism the Exercise Science students exhibit, as well as the growth of the Transition students.
“All Exercise Science students demonstrate encouragement and verbal support,” said Webster. “This makes the Village Plaza students feel comfortable, willing to engage and hopefully, progress in their skills.”
Each Wednesday, the impact of the Fitness Buddies program can be sensed as encouraging words are heard, smiles are seen and friendships are formed between buddies.
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