At Green High School, the Athletic Department allows students from the PLCC to train, learn, and participate in their responsibilities at sporting events. These students volunteer from the Sports Medicine department. However, the program accepts all kinds of students. Student athletes can help in their off season, students who don’t want to play sports but who still want to help out, students who want to be involved, and more. The students are Student Athletic Trainer Aides. Currently there are three Student Aides, Lydia Zorn ‘25, Alyssa Dorsey ‘24, and Nathan Davis ‘24.
Alyssa Dorsey and Nathan Davis currently go to the PLCC for Sports Medicine.
“I’ve always been interested in medicine, so when I heard there was a program that also involved sports activities; I got really excited about it,” Dorsey said.
When talking about the actual program itself, the students are student athletic trainer aides. A student athletic trainer is typically a college student. Because of the PLCC, they’re able to work with athletic trainers. The trainers themselves have paperwork filled out by the students interested in working as well as two teacher recommendations before they decide on the students entering the program. The aides have the option to help all year or just during a season of their choice: Fall, Winter, and Spring. They go after school to help prepare for games and practices, assist with taping athletes, apply ice or heat packs, and if there are any injuries they are able to assist with their evaluation. When assisting with sporting events, they help move things out onto the field, fill up waters, and help the athletes with anything they may need. When asked about what Davis loves about the program, he stated,
“I love being able to learn proactively by being on the field and getting experience that I can put towards college. It provides a completely new learning opportunity for me and allows me to be more involved and interactive compared to just being in a classroom.”
The program has not only given the students a chance to gain more knowledge, but it has also opened a world of opportunities.
“Through the program, I have talked to many healthcare professionals that give me the opportunity to shadow them. Although I am still working on being able to shadow them in their clinical environments, I have talked to Dr. William Lanzinger about shadowing him in a couple operations and Dr Jeffery Peiffer about shadowing him at his practice,” Davis said.
Both students expressed their appreciation for the experiences they’ve been given. On top of that, the aides are able to letter in Sports Medicine if they complete 150 hours in a season as well as completing the skill checklist they are working.
Dorsey and Davis both expressed their gratitude for the trainers as well, with Dorsey saying,
“I love that our trainers include us in everything, they always make everything a learning opportunity for us.” They’ve learned a multitude of skills and gained important knowledge that helped them in their choices for the future. All of that was made possible through the wonderful experiences they had in the Student Athletic Trainer Aid program.
