A Gateway to the World and a Storybook Approach

On this episode of the Tech Times podcast we chat with Sports Medicine and Therapy Professions instructors Carolyn Mosely and Meagan DeShane about their approach to teaching. Plus, hear the options available to students who pursue this career.

Transcript

Announcer: [00:00:00] From Tulsa Tech, helping you make your own path with insights and information about the world of career training, the Tech Times Podcast starts right now. 

Ryan Williams (Host): Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Tech Times podcast. I'm your host, Ryan Williams. We're located today at our Health Sciences Center, a building that never sleeps, so they say with our year round adult programs, but it's an awesome time of year to get going and re or restart those New Year's physical fitness goal.

Ryan Williams (Host): And a great time to see all kinds of athletes perform across basketball, hockey seasons, baseball, pitchers and catchers have already reported, for spring training and we just recently witnessed the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics for those athletes. And many of us as we age, the people that take care of our bodies and lead us towards recovery are currently students in our sports medicine and therapy professions program.

Ryan Williams (Host): Okay. To share with us a little bit more about this exciting program and what [00:01:00] it takes to achieve great things are our two instructors, Carolyn Mosley and Meagan DeShane. Welcome to the podcast. 

Carolyn Mosely: Hi. 

Meagan DeShane: Thank you. 

Ryan Williams (Host): So let's get started. Think back when you were just getting started in your careers, Carolyn, what first drew you to the therapeutic professions like sports Med?

Carolyn Mosely: I actually, my background is I'm a physical therapist assistant and I worked in just a variety of settings. Always loved the, just the, you know, the outcomes that you can get with physical therapy. So when sports medicine came along, then I knew I could just apply that to educating the students as well.

Carolyn Mosely: As, you know, developing the love for therapy in them. 

Ryan Williams (Host): Sports medicine seems to be just kind of a terminology that really means physical therapy. Essentially, right? 

Carolyn Mosely: It is. It's just an umbrella term for therapy careers, and so you can springboard off really into any career. 

Ryan Williams (Host): Hopefully it's a term that gets more kids interested in the program, 

Carolyn Mosely: right?

Ryan Williams (Host): Yeah. What about you, Meagan? 

Meagan DeShane: So, I've always loved sports [00:02:00] and in high school. Was a student athletic training aide and helped out with the football team and, the basketball team and wrestling, and then, decided to go into college for it and loved it. In college, the plan was to become an orthopedic surgeon and then I realized how much school that was and decided, you know, maybe athletic training is where I'm gonna stay.

Meagan DeShane: And I loved it. I loved being part of the team and helping the athletes. It's rewarding to see them go from being injured on the field and you're that first person there to seeing them go through rehab, go through the, all the, that process and then get back on the field. So 

Ryan Williams (Host): was it being part of all those teams kind of, that what drew you into the field?

Meagan DeShane: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And it, it was just a fun career. Like, and then I, whenever this opened up and we could come teach it, it was like even better. Inspire the next generation. 

Ryan Williams (Host): Yeah. Well share with us, a moment maybe earlier in your career that kind of confirmed you were on the right path. 

Carolyn Mosely: Well I actually started out in [00:03:00] education.

Carolyn Mosely: So I guess that it was just sort of a natural thing. I started out in education and then I went back to school and became a PTA, so got into physical therapy and then I think this just was a great segue into that. So you get both the education part of it, you know, you're teaching students, you're interacting in that, you know, educational background and then you're teaching what you love to do.

Carolyn Mosely: So I mean, it was just a perfect fit. 

Ryan Williams (Host): Sure. What were you teaching before? 

Carolyn Mosely: I taught elementary ed actually. I mean, to, now that I'm back, you know, full circle in education again, I also taught adults, , at Indian Capital in a physical therapy assistant program as 

Ryan Williams (Host): well. Very cool. 

Carolyn Mosely: So kind of melding both worlds.

Ryan Williams (Host): Nice. 

Meagan DeShane: Yeah. , So something early in my career I guess that happened, , I was a part of. Union high school and working with the that football team whenever I was a senior and we were able to see some pretty incredible games and I loved that atmosphere of it. And so I knew I wanted to do something in that world [00:04:00] where there was like that sports and that.

Meagan DeShane: Competitiveness and then I knew I wanted to do something healthcare 'cause I love helping people. And so it just kind of meshed two of my favorite things together and 

Ryan Williams (Host): best of the both worlds for both of you. 

Ryan Williams (Host): Yeah, that sounds 

Ryan Williams (Host): awesome. Yeah, 

Meagan DeShane: absolutely. 

Ryan Williams (Host): If you could go back and talk to your younger self, what career advice would you give?

Meagan DeShane: Start early and study hard and kind of figure out your path. As early as you can figure out your path and kind of get on that and anything you can do to help, , facilitate that and networking. I feel like if I could go back and tell myself like, every person you meet could be a potential coworker or colleague or someone that can help you get to where you're going.

Meagan DeShane: Like, it took me way too long to figure out that networking was such a big deal. 

Ryan Williams (Host): It's a small world. 

Meagan DeShane: It is a very small world. 

Carolyn Mosely: It is a small world in the therapy world as well. So I agree. I think networking is a huge, huge thing that kids need to, to understand and, and be a part of because you're right. I mean, there's, you never know who you're gonna meet and [00:05:00] what that person can do for you in your career.

Carolyn Mosely: As far as the path and what I wish I would've known, I think probably just to explore all the careers. I don't think kids today know of all the various careers out there, so I would encourage them to explore lots of different things. I feel sometimes they. Have this pressure that they need to know exactly what they wanna be like as soon as they become a high school senior.

Carolyn Mosely: I better know my career path. And I think for some kids it's a very confusing time and they don't really know what they wanna be. So I think exploring all the avenues that they might have an interest in to see kind of what rises to the top for them in their interest categories. I mean, I took a long path to get to this position.

Carolyn Mosely: Sure. I mean, I did a lot of different jobs in between and you know, I think taking the time to find those is, is very rewarding. You, you meet a lot of different individuals in a lot of different career paths and so I think anything that [00:06:00] you can, you know. Pick up any little bits of knowledge that you can pick up from all of those jobs helps to sort of solidify that career into something that you know is very fulfilling for you 

Ryan Williams (Host): beyond a physical therapist or something like that.

Ryan Williams (Host): Are there multiple paths you can take within all of this broad category of therapy professions? 

Meagan DeShane: So our program, we talk a lot about, or we talk all about the therapy career. So we talk about specifically physical therapy, occupational therapy, athletic training, personal training, and chiropractic. So those are kind of our main careers that we talk about.

Meagan DeShane: And then we talk about what makes them similar, and then also what makes them unique. , A lot of our students come in and they think physical therapy is the end all, be all, and which is great. And for some of 'em that is the career path that they wanna stay on. But some of 'em come in and realize that occupational therapy might be more their fit or athletic training.

Meagan DeShane: And that's what I think is so great about our program is that we do go over all of those careers and it helps them kind of figure out [00:07:00] where they fit best. 

Carolyn Mosely: I would say that's, that's very true. And then the other thing that I think is really exciting for our students is when you take a look at each and every one of the careers that we actually explore, there's so many settings that you can be employed in.

Carolyn Mosely: I mean, if you think of physical therapy, kind of that first image that comes to your head is either working in a hospital or working in an outpatient clinic. And that's just not the case. You can work for nasa, you can work for a rodeo, a ballet, you can travel, do you travel, pt. It just gives them so many more avenues to explore.

Carolyn Mosely: Same with athletic training. I mean, when you think of athletic training, you kind of just think, oh, I'm just gonna be out on the field. I'm gonna be out on the court. I'm going to, you know, help these players. But in all actuality, there's lots of industry. Jobs out there that need athletic trainers. I mean, if you think American Airlines, you think of Amazon and I think our kids get exposed to that in a really, you know, good, safe environment so that they can figure [00:08:00] out, okay, I'm not just gonna be on the field.

Carolyn Mosely: I can do this or I can do this. And it gives 'em lots of options. Yeah. And it helps them sort of get out of that stereotypical, . Idea of what this career, any particular career that we talk about could be. 

Ryan Williams (Host): Right? Yeah. It's wild that you could follow a rodeo around the country. Yeah. You could do that sort of stuff.

Meagan DeShane: Crazy injuries in the rodeo. 

Ryan Williams (Host): , How did you both get into teaching and ultimately here at Tulsa Tech? 

Meagan DeShane: , So I always knew I wanted to be a teacher in some aspect. Athletic training in itself, you're constantly educating your pa your patients and trying to break down whatever the doctor said into something that's more simple for them to understand.

Meagan DeShane: 'cause it's important that you know what's going on with your body. And so I always loved that aspect in it. And then whenever I was in college, , I had a class with a bunch of football players. And they would come over to my, , apartment the night before the test and I would basically reteach everything we had to study for the test for them.

Meagan DeShane: It was great for me 'cause I got to study, but it was great for them too. And so whenever this opened up, , I was like, this is the best of both [00:09:00] worlds. It's something I already love to do and I get to teach about it. Like you can't. Can't beat it. Mm-hmm. 

Carolyn Mosely: I think that's true. And I, as for me, I mean, I went into education, that was my college degree.

Carolyn Mosely: , I always knew I wanted to be an educator. So even though I started out in elementary, I mean my path, my career path just sort of unfolded. I mean, I, you know, did, the young kids did all that. And then I. You know, became a physical therapist assistant, and I worked in the school systems and so I got to treat anyone from preschool age all the way up to high school.

Carolyn Mosely: So that was really exciting. And then making that jump over to teaching adults. And then here I am back kind of full circle, and now I'm teaching high school seniors. And so I think probably now this is probably my favorite job. I mean, this is the age that I find that I most enjoy. I mean, they, they're able to, you know.

Carolyn Mosely: Have great conversations. You can have, you know, just discussions with them and, and build these relationships that are gonna [00:10:00] help them, you know, further their careers. You know, maybe it's, you know, just that, you know, I don't know, just that life experience that I guess I have that I can sort of pass along to them.

Carolyn Mosely: And so that makes, that makes the job really rewarding. 

Meagan DeShane: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And I always tell my students, you never know, like who we know that can help them in the future. So 

Ryan Williams (Host): for sure. 

Meagan DeShane: I always tell again, 

Ryan Williams (Host): small world. 

Meagan DeShane: Yeah. Your professional career starts here. It does. So I start on the first day of school.

Carolyn Mosely: Yeah, 

Ryan Williams (Host): I like that. How did your professional experience shape the way you teach today? 

Meagan DeShane: I teach lots of stories, so I have so many stories about injuries and it makes it a lot more fun because you can, you can talk about somebody breaking their leg, but man, when you've got a good story about someone breaking their leg, that sucks them in and they, I was gonna say, 

Ryan Williams (Host): that would be a lot more engaging than a textbook.

Meagan DeShane: Yes. Or absolutely. Like I've saw, I've seen an open finger dislocation where it came through the skin [00:11:00] and the doctor literally stitched it back up and the athlete went back in and played that game. So, so stuff like that just having those stories and those experiences, they, it really helps them kind of, that's what they wanna hear about.

Meagan DeShane: Like, you can teach bookwork all day, but like, if you don't have a story or something to tie it to, to make it real life for them. I feel like that just keeps them more engaged. 

Carolyn Mosely: I would a hundred percent agree with that. And I, and I, I'm, we are very similar in that fact. We both teach with a lot of stories, whether it's, you know, true experience like this is what happened, or if we're just teaching life stories.

Carolyn Mosely: Yeah. I would say we are very much, 

Meagan DeShane: yeah, 

Carolyn Mosely: we do that every single day with a story 

Meagan DeShane: like Mosley's got a lightning strike. 

Carolyn Mosely: Yeah, I've got a lightning strike victim that I talk about and, you know, just, and then it, you know, just kind of goes from there, you know, 

Meagan DeShane: and then I 

Ryan Williams (Host): can, it goes from there. Like, that's, 

Carolyn Mosely: that's 

Ryan Williams (Host): pretty up there in terms of 

Carolyn Mosely: It is, I mean, it's one of those things.

Carolyn Mosely: So, you know, then you, you go into the life skill, okay, well, we live in Oklahoma. We, we stand at the window [00:12:00] and watch tornadoes. You know, why is this not a good idea? Yeah. And we, you know, then you bring it, okay, I had a lightning strike victim. Blah, blah, blah. And so it's kind of interesting, you know, how you can sort of just take one little incident, one little patient and you know, teach a whole thing.

Ryan Williams (Host): That's so cool. Thanks for sharing. Let's take a quick break. When we come back, we'll chat a little bit about what students experience while taking the program.

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Ryan Williams (Host): Okay, we are back chatting with our two Sports Med and therapy professions instructors here at the Health Sciences Center. So guys, this is a one year one school year program for high school seniors and students attend for half of each day. One of what are some of the basics that students learn while in the program?

Meagan DeShane: So our program goes of course into the therapy careers. We're gonna talk about all of those different careers, what the different avenues to get there look like. And then we also go pretty in depth into the musculoskeletal system. So we'll talk about all the bones, muscles, ligaments, tendons. All that kind of stuff.

Meagan DeShane: We kind of go through the body starting at the feet and work our way up. And then we also learn about common injuries you're gonna see there. So ankle sprains and knee sprains and all kinds of different injuries, dislocations, that kind of stuff. And then we talk about what common treatments are for those.

Meagan DeShane: In the spring we go a little bit more in depth into like our modalities, so therapeutic modalities [00:14:00] like cryotherapy, thermo therapy e-stim, ultrasound and talk about those and how we use those to treat different injuries. And then we also talk about rehab. Rehabilitation exercises and go through those as well.

Meagan DeShane: And our students will actually get out or get to go to a seven week clinical rotation. 

Ryan Williams (Host): Oh wow. That's 

Meagan DeShane: cool. Where they get to kind of see what the day of in a life is like for a physical therapist or an athletic trainer, they kind of get to pick whichever avenue is most interesting to them. And we try to set them up with a place where they can get that information, make those connections.

Meagan DeShane: And see where it takes 

Ryan Williams (Host): that. That sounds like a lot of rigorous studies, especially like the, the anatomy and physiology terminology. Yes. That seems rigorous and makes my head hurt. But Carolyn, what about you? 

Carolyn Mosely: I think, you know, I mean, yes, everything that she just said. We, we take the, you know, the whole person and we go head to toe and, and figure out, you know.

Carolyn Mosely: All the things, the anatomy, the physiology, the rehab. And then the other thing that's really great about it is we take all that. Once we get all that and we've talked about it and we've learned about it, and we [00:15:00] practice about it, then we actually put that into practice before we send them out to their clinical sites.

Carolyn Mosely: And so we actually set up our lab in, I mean, basically it looks like a PT clinic. And so we have everything from the receptionist at the front desk to our. Clinicians and our patients and then they get to invite their family and friends and so their family and friends will come up and you know, they get to show off their skills that they've learned all year long.

Ryan Williams (Host): I was gonna bring that up. Let's talk some about some of those several mocks that you guys put together. And there are. Students get to work directly with patients, quote unquote patients. 

Carolyn Mosely: Yes, right, they do. And so, like I said, as part of our, sort of our culmination, once we finish up, you know, going through all the injuries in the rehab of that, then again they get to practice.

Carolyn Mosely: And, and that's really exciting for them. You know, we started out our mock clinic and, you know, at the very beginning of the week that we start, you know, the, the students are, you know, a little bit unsure that by. Tuesday, Wednesday, they're running the [00:16:00] whole clinic. 

Ryan Williams (Host): Hmm. 

Carolyn Mosely: And so they've getting, they are getting experience, like I said, from anything from the front desk to, you know, billing.

Carolyn Mosely: And so they run the whole thing themselves. And it's really exciting to see. It's kind of one of our proud moments. It's like, you know, there goes the little baby birds or they're flying out of the nest. And so, 

Meagan DeShane: and it. Cracks me up. 'cause every year they always are so surprised which programs are quiet because there, it's not just the skills, right?

Meagan DeShane: Like you have to know your stuff. You have to know like rehab exercises and how to do modalities. But you also have to know how to talk to people that it's a big skill. Like it's very. Very boring. If you ever go to physical therapy and you just sit there in the quiet for an hour, you have to be able to make that small talk.

Meagan DeShane: And we talk about it all year about how important it is to be able to talk to people. And then every year at mock clinic they're like, I had no idea how important that was, like I'm telling you. 

Ryan Williams (Host): But it's a really cool opportunity to see that confidence grow. 

Meagan DeShane: Yes, absolutely. 

Carolyn Mosely: Absolutely, yes. 

Ryan Williams (Host): What other kinds of hands-on experiences do the [00:17:00] students get?

Meagan DeShane: So we we do a taping clinic in the fall. We invite area athletic trainers to come in and they get to learn different taping techniques with athletic tape. We also had a physical therapist come in and just talking about like the, a physical therapy career path and kind of the stuff that he does in a day.

Carolyn Mosely: Mm-hmm. 

Meagan DeShane: He's. He's coming back to hopefully do some rehab stuff for us too, so they get that experience.

Carolyn Mosely: We have an athletic trainer from the Seattle Mariners come every year, and she kind of does the same thing. She gives us a snapshot of what it's like to be in professional baseball. And so the kids are really excited about that.

Carolyn Mosely: They get to ask a lot of questions like, you know, what, what do you do? How do you do it? How much money do you make? And you know, and that's always the favorite question, but she's so gracious to answer all their questions and she, she actually was a student in the sports medicine program herself, so that's kind of nice to have the alumni, you know, come back you know, to, to give their ideas of, you know, the careers out there.

Ryan Williams (Host): And I'm sure it's super [00:18:00] helpful with students at this age to hear from third party voices other than you two. 

Carolyn Mosely: Yes. 

Ryan Williams (Host): Right. Saying the same things over and over when someone else comes in. And reaffirms that for you guys then that's absolutely, probably helpful. 

Meagan DeShane: Yes. Yeah, very helpful. 

Ryan Williams (Host): What surprises you most about, or what surprises students the most when they join the program?

Meagan DeShane: Good 

Carolyn Mosely: question. 

Meagan DeShane: They're always shocked to see Feet. 

Carolyn Mosely: Yeah. 

Ryan Williams (Host): Feet. So, 

Carolyn Mosely: yes. 

Ryan Williams (Host): Is that what you said? Feet? 

Meagan DeShane: So they, I, I feel like some students don't realize, like it is hands on. Right. But we do see each other's feet. Ev like everybody pulls out their toes, we see their toes, we wiggle their toes, like. Feet is part of it.

Meagan DeShane: And so I feel like that's usually surprising. 'cause they just, I, I give them two weeks notice though. I always am like, Hey, two weeks we're getting your toes out. So whatever you need to do to feel better about your toes. 

Ryan Williams (Host): It's interesting that that's kind of the blockage that they just don't see that. Yes.

Ryan Williams (Host): In the future. 

Carolyn Mosely: Yeah, that is true. And, and, and just patient care, you know, just [00:19:00] being up close and personal. I mean, if you're teaching someone how to use crutches, I mean, you've gotta be, you know, in their personal space talking to them. And, and I, and another one I, I think is probably surprising for them is, is how much small talk you have to do and how much you have to get out of your comfort zone to, to be able to perform that skill well.

Carolyn Mosely: And so we do give them lots of rac. I mean, we'll do team building and whatnot in the beginning. And, and it's always, you know, ask your, ask your teammate, you know, what their favorite movie is, and, and we just give them varying little moments where they have to actually step out of that comfort zone and, and talk to other people in a situation that they may not have found themselves in if they hadn't been in sports medicine.

Carolyn Mosely: Yeah, 

Ryan Williams (Host): another part of the program and all programs here at Tulsa Tech are participation in career tech student organizations. Yeah. Which ones do your students participate in and how does that impact the learning environment here? 

Meagan DeShane: So we participate in hosa. Mm-hmm. Future Health [00:20:00] Professionals and our students.

Meagan DeShane: They, we do like the fall leadership so they can we have our class officers, so she's got class officers and I do too. And it's great because we have two sets for. One program. So it's not like you're the president and you have all this pressure. There's two presidents. We all do things together.

Meagan DeShane: And so they can kind of collaborate that way. And then those officers go to fall leadership. So they get to kind of experience what a professional conference is like. Which is great. And then in the spring we do state leadership where they get to go and compete. So there is a sports medicine competition.

Meagan DeShane: There's a physical therapy competition. They just added an occupational therapy test, which is really exciting. 

Carolyn Mosely: Mm-hmm. 

Meagan DeShane: But we also incorporate that into just every day stuff around here. We have our students do. A list of a hundred things at the beginning of the year. And so it's kind of like their bucket list for the year.

Meagan DeShane: Most, most of the things are stuff we're gonna do anyways, like learn CPR and like [00:21:00] how to tape an ankle, that kind of stuff. But then they also sprinkle in like some fun ideas that challenge us as instructors. Mm-hmm. Like. An escape room. And so we're like, okay, how can we make this lesson into an escape room and make and make that fun?

Meagan DeShane: And we have the list hanging in our lab and they can go through and check it off. And it's one of our host activities that we do at the beginning. Yeah. And it gives 'em buy-in and they just really like to check stuff off the list. It's, they 

Carolyn Mosely: do, 

Meagan DeShane: it's a, 

Carolyn Mosely: they really do. I mean, we had one on there that was just kind of, we just.

Carolyn Mosely: Did it not too long ago was show and tell. You know, so they kind of go back to that sort of, their elementary roots and, and they, they really like that kind of stuff. And so how do you do show and tell with a high school senior? Well, you bring a phone and you have 'em pull a, you know, a great memory, a photo off of their phone.

Carolyn Mosely: Yeah. And then they talk about it and tell about it, and we. You know, we put that up on our big screen TV and it's kind of interesting, you know, 'cause they'll, they'll bring out little kid photos and say, oh yeah, this is when, you know so and so and whatever happened. So that's kind of fun. So, 

Meagan DeShane: and that's what we do at our [00:22:00] HOSA meetings whenever we have those, is those little, little activities.

Meagan DeShane: That, and some of 'em are. Definitely curriculum based. And then some of 'em are like those little fun things that we can sprinkle in, like brain breaks and stuff. Right. Which is great too. Yeah. 

Ryan Williams (Host): And also, and also provides an opportunity just to get to know each other again, more networking for themselves.

Carolyn Mosely: Absolutely. 

Meagan DeShane: Yeah. Yeah. And we use a lot of the hosa. HOSA is great about having like rubrics and stuff for, for different skills. And so we do pull a lot of those so that whenever they do get to competition season, they've been seeing those rubrics. All year long. And so it's not as intimidating to see those two.

Ryan Williams (Host): Is there a student success story that you're willing to share with the internet? 

Meagan DeShane: You have a good one, but it's not necessarily sports. I mean it is sports medicine, but she kind of, it's career tech in general. 

Ryan Williams (Host): Sure. 

Meagan DeShane: For the for cam. 

Carolyn Mosely: Oh yeah. So, yeah, so I, I mean I've, so I guess there's a couple of 'em, I would [00:23:00] say.

Carolyn Mosely: So every year our students, you know, we, as we talk about physical therapy and whatnot, we, we have a lot of students interested in that. And so a lot of our students will go on to physical therapy assistant at TCC at Tulsa Community College. It's really, really difficult to get in. And so in my eight years that I've been here, we've had.

Carolyn Mosely: I don't know, multiple, multiple students go through that program and it's really difficult to get in. And so the students that I feel get in, I think it's, it's partly because of their success here and just that guidance that we give them to kind of funnel them into that program. But yeah, we've had another student that, that came through a couple years ago.

Carolyn Mosely: She. You know, she came through our program, she completed our program successfully, but in the end, it wasn't exactly what she wanted to do. And so she joined another tech program and she's actually now a plumbing student and she has been so [00:24:00] successful. Yeah. In that I mean she's just now 18 and she's got her first job in plumbing.

Ryan Williams (Host): And you talked about this earlier, like just. Yeah, we expect kids to know what they want to do with their career path before they even graduate high school, and they're just trying to live out life and go to senior prom and all that sort of stuff. And yet. We're a great opportunity for those students Yeah.

Ryan Williams (Host): To try to figure that out. 

Carolyn Mosely: Absolutely. 

Ryan Williams (Host): While you're still in high school. 

Carolyn Mosely: Yes. And, and that's the other great thing. I mean, I never feel like, you know, if the students decide that sports med is not for them, or a therapy career is not for them, but you know, maybe I'm gonna go to radiology or maybe I'm gonna go somewhere else, that's always a success in my book because I've showed them one other opportunity, one other new career, you know, so it, that's always really exciting.

Carolyn Mosely: And so. I, I don't know. I mean, I think there's so many things that we could say yeah. Where we've been super successful in that. But I think probably those two are really great. I mean, just showing them [00:25:00] new careers and like I said, our, our student that went into plumbing, I mean, she's, she's the first girl that went into the plumbing.

Carolyn Mosely: Classes over there and she's done so well. And so, you know, she came back and was, you know, was talking about that and her experience and stuff and we said, gosh, you could, like, you could totally market that to women. 

Ryan Williams (Host): Mm-hmm. 

Carolyn Mosely: And you know, and you could have your own niche market. 

Ryan Williams (Host): Mm-hmm. 

Carolyn Mosely: The pink plumber.

Carolyn Mosely: The pink plumber is what we said she could be. 

Ryan Williams (Host): What excites you most about the future of your program or your students that are currently in the program? 

Carolyn Mosely: I think probably the most exciting thing is, is they just, they just have so many things that they can dabble in. You know, they've got all of those careers.

Carolyn Mosely: Like I said, sports medicine is a huge umbrella of a variety of careers, not just the careers that we explore, but a whole variety of that. That could be anything, you know, from orthopedic surgeon to, you know, anything. Anything could be in the sports medicine realm. And so I think just knowing [00:26:00] that and having those students have that ability to explore those careers, I think that's really exciting.

Carolyn Mosely: And then the variety of settings that you can be in. So I mean, if you didn't like one part of this career, you have a hundred million places to go and change settings, and that keeps your job exciting. I think it keeps you engaged and on top of your game, in your career. Yeah. Can you repeat the question?

Ryan Williams (Host): Mm-hmm. What excites you most about the future of your program or your students? 

Meagan DeShane: Oh, I feel, I feel like about the program. I mean, I've been here, this is my fifth year. 

Ryan Williams (Host): Mm-hmm. 

Meagan DeShane: And I feel like we're finally getting to the place where we've kind of got it, how we want it. We're just like fine tuning. And we've kind of made it our own and made it.

Meagan DeShane: A lot more hands on and a lot of fun. Yeah. Trying to take every year I told you we do the a hundred things and we take ideas from E each year. Like, oh, this escape room like this year was so great for learning about heat illness, like we're gonna [00:27:00] bring that into next year. And it's like little things like that.

Meagan DeShane: I feel like our program. So, so good. Like, 

Ryan Williams (Host): and it sounds like though you're adding a lot of rigor to it as well. Like, I mean, there's some intense learning happening even though it's it's escape room fun or stuff like that. Yeah, 

Carolyn Mosely: there is intense learning. I mean, we cover a lot of material. Mm-hmm. We cover a lot of really in depth material.

Carolyn Mosely: And so I think because of the way that we teach it, I think it's, you know, it's, it's something that a student can grab onto and not have to be just totally stressed about, you know, just. Studying, studying. Studying because it sort of comes natural because the more you practice it, the better you get at it.

Carolyn Mosely: And so it doesn't have to be all the bookwork. I think because we are hands on so much, I think they'll, it makes the learning so much easier for the students. Sorry. 

Ryan Williams (Host): Well, Megan and Carolyn, thanks so much for joining us on podcast today. 

Carolyn Mosely: Thanks 

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