Samantha Hamann

Responsibilities

My responsibilities here at Edgewater included teaching different level fitness classes, doing fitness assessments on the residents, recording attendance, teaching employee wellness classes, design different activities to engage employees & residents, and help design and implement different educational wellness programs for employees. I got to lead a wide range of fitness classes including Total Body Conditioning which is the highest level of physical activity to Seated Strength & Stability which was all seated exercises. In between Total Body Conditioning and Seated Strength & Stability there was Strength & Stability, Maintain Strength, Pure Fitness (seated, and Fit & Fun (seated). Edgewater also offers a Rock Steady Boxing for patients with Parkinson's disease, that was one of the most challenging classes for me to lead just because we had a member who was a paraplegic. The hard part about designing this class was making sure that he did not over work his arms. Along with the different level of exercise classes offered on land I also lead a water fitness class classed Aqua Fitness, anyone could come to this one. Teaching all of the different level of classes did not come easy to me, I am very use to very high intensity fitness classes. I had to learn how to adjust and had to completely relearn how to teach fitness classes to this special population. One of the things that did come easy to me was running residents through the fitness assessments. Kin 459 Lab did a good job of showing us what to expect. Some things were a little different since this population can't do everything on a regular fitness assessment. One of the most fun classes I got to teach was the employee wellness class because it was a Boxing for Wellness Class. Some of the different activities I designed were the Edgewater Olympics and Jeopardy. The best part was to see how much the residents enjoyed the different activities. The educational wellness programs I designed was a Employee Hydration Challenge, this was designed to show employees the benefits of drinking the daily recommend amount of water based on your weight.

Accomplishments

My greatest accomplishment from my internship would be building the relationships not only with my co-workers but with the residents as well! When I first started my internship I did not know a single person that lived or worked here but know I know more of the residents than I ever thought I would. I will forever cherish the friendships I have made here at Edgewater.

What advice would you give?

No matter what your career goals are, give 150% at your internship! You may realize in your internship that you don't want to do that as your career anymore, and that makes your internship a once in a lifetime experience. Make the best out of your internship!