Athletic trainer Heather Cook allows students to shadow her as she works to see what goes on behind the scenes.
“I decided to shadow Heather because there were no students shadowing her. I thought that this would be a good opportunity to get knowledge in my second career option,” junior Amanda Phouthavong said.
There are many tasks that an athletic trainer has to do and having someone there to help, just makes it a little easier.
“Whatever she needs help with I do. Wherever she goes I go. I just make sure she isn’t trying to multitask. One thing I do more to help is when someone asks for ice I am available to help or put Estim on and off,” Phouthavong said.
There are many ups and downs to shadowing.
“My favorite part is being outside and interacting and having Heather teach me things that I needed to be retaught. However, my least favorite is when someone gets injured on the field and they aren’t cooperating or just any athlete not cooperating,” Phouthavong said.
It also helps to getting a better understanding of a career.
“By seeing what it is like in the real life and being able to take into heathers footsteps it allows me to see what a possible career could be like,” Phouthavong said.