Keeping the
ASEP Ball Rolling
A
Student Perspective
Jesse Pittsley, BS
Graduate Student
Department
of Exercise Physiolgoy
College of St. Scholastica
Duluth, MN 55811
I just came from an ASEP
Student Chapter meeting at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN.
Like most student organization meetings, it involved a room full of students
with looks across their faces suggesting the question, "What am I doing
here?" I have attended many student organization meetings throughout
my days in college. Like most others I showed up for this one about
five minutes late and felt let down when I saw nobody had brought cookies
or soda for everyone to share. While working to mentally get over
the lack of refreshments, I sat down and prepared myself for 50 minutes
of talking about who wants to volunteer at different nursing homes and
what color t-shirts should we get this semester. With one quick
scan of the room I felt that most of the students were thinking the same
thought. So I asked myself the question, "What am I doing here?"
Like many college students
I was told as an undergraduate to join professional organizations.
In fact, I even attended a two-day conference on the reasoning for joining
them. After the conference I remember being asked by a friend, “Why
would a person join a professional organization.” The only answer I could
come up with was, "Because it looks good on a resume." So,
for the last couple years I've sent the American Society of Exercise Physiologists
my student membership fees (late of course). For my money, I have
received a couple certificates that I proudly put on my wall and the ability
to type one more line under "Professional Organizations" on my resume.
For the last two years I have put the minimum into ASEP as an organization
and have gotten the minimum out of it. So I ask again, "What am I
doing here?"
A quick look through the
American Society of Exercise Physiologist web page should convince the
viewer that the ASEP cause is very strong for the development of a prominent
future for the Exercise Physiologists. With its active members
working on issues of accreditation, certification, and licensure and overall
professionalization of exercise physiology, it is very difficult from the
student’s perspective not to support the cause. However, as
a member of an organization, one still has the choice of how involved he/she
wants to be. Many members support their organization from a non-active
stance and, thus they put very little in and receive the minimum benefits
in return. Others choose a more active role in an organization
and possibly get more out of it. If an organization is filled
with inactive members, it will remain stagnant and not advance or even
worse it may loose ground. If it is filled with active members,
the organization has the potential to grow and make a difference.
Follow me through this example.
Let us picture the organization, ASEP, as a ball on level ground with the
goal of professionalism a certain distance away. The active members
of the organization are trying to move the ball towards the goal.
The number of members and their degree of activity will decide at what
pace the ball moves forward. If a lot of members push very hard,
the ball really moves and if everybody stops pushing, the ball stays in
the same spot. Let us say the ground isn't level and the goal
is uphill . Now, the members have to expend effort just to keep the
ball in the same spot. Also important, if the members stop pushing
on the ball, it will start to roll down hill away from the goal.
If ASEP, the organization for exercise physiologists, and Exercise Physiology,
as a profession, are to advance the goal of professionalism, they need
a strong following of active members pushing the ball (hence, ASEP’s objective)
in the right direction. Without this support valuable ground will
be lost and the goal will not be reached in a timely fashion. The
question is, “Where do we find these active members?”
It appears to me that ASEP
is stuck in a bit of a bind when it comes to members lending active support
for its cause. Students in my situation are more worried about
memorizing the enzymes in glycolysis and getting ready for the next assignment
or test in cardiovascular physiology than thinking about professionalization.
The professors who instruct us are thinking about their next lecture or
getting a research document published more so than certification or accreditation.
The exercise physiologists in the work force are thinking more about their
day-to-day stresses of running things smoothly and meeting the "bottom
line" than writing an article for PEPonline.
Everyone seems to be either too busy or too distracted. For the
time being, it seems they feel relatively safe if not comfortable with
what they have. Many hold the view, “If things are fine the way they
are, why work to change them?” In this situation, the people in power
are content with their share of the pie are and the students are a little
too naive to know what could possibly happen if action isn't taken.
What we are seeing here is the obvious inability of certain groups, although
noble in their efforts to see beyond themselves and take action for the
good of the cause. Thus we remain stagnant or possibly even worse
we could be loosing ground.
I'm writing to you from a
student’s perspective. This perspective is usually clouded with self-centeredness
and apathy towards these types of issues. It is very difficult for
individuals of any age, especially when they are in their early 20s to
remove themselves from the present to have a clear view of what is to come.
Most people simply don't have an idea that problems exist until they begin
to feel the negative effects of it. Unfortunately, that is often
too late. At this present time, I'm thinking about finishing my degree.
It is not until I experience difficulty during my job search or even later
when the job market begins to "shrink" or is taken over by other professions
would I really start to take emotional interest in the ASEP challenges
to its members. Until then, students like myself are usually
not very interested. Sure, from time to time, we appear interested.
We smile at our professors and we go the meetings. But, the truth
is we are wrapped up in getting the best grades possible and in trying
to figure out the next step (i.e., work or more school). Little
do we see that the "A" won't mean a thing if the employers aren’t interested
in us. I can hear the voice of the employer in my head, "I'm sorry
we can't take you, we need somebody who has licensure. It's good
to see that you worked hard and that you have excellent grades. I
see that you also were a member of your professional organization.
That’s good, too. But, I'm sorry. I hope you understand. I
must think of the bottom line. I need employees with certification
or licensure to get paid for services rendered.”
After several clicks from
one ASEP web site to the next, it is obvious that a large part of the ASEP
organization is there for me and people like me. A very common theme
in many of the articles published in the
PEPonline
is the development of a future for the field of exercise physiology and,
therefore, a bright and secure future for me. It's very obvious that
ASEP is there for the students, but are the students there for ASEP?
Do the students in the ASEP Student Chapter at St. Scholastica really understand
that ASEP needs their help? The answer is “no” – not really!
It appears to me that most
scholarly journals have a large dominance of PhDs doing most of the publishing.
This is logical in most situations since people at the doctoral level have
acquired a larger base of knowledge and have chosen careers where publishing
is encouraged and important. Although PhDs may make up the majority,
there is no reason a decent percentage of published material can’t come
from the master prepared exercise physiologists or even the bachelor prepared.
In the PEPonline
journal,
I could not find one article that was written purely from the perspective
of the student. Yet, the future of the field actually depends on
the students and their motivation to continue the ASEP initiatives.
This raises the question, "Who is dropping the ball here?"
I doubt the lack of student
publishing is a function of the PhDs and others of that level who don't
want to read the student’s perspective. I feel the truth is the opposite.
I see them welcoming a student’s point of view. The lack of a student’s
perspective is not the fault of the professionals but the fault of the
students themselves. Students are students! They have
trouble believing that their thoughts count. When sitting down to
write this article, I realized that the student’s perspective is important.
In fact, it may be more important than at times the professors’ lectures
(especially if the professors are not in tune with the importance of professionalism).
The fact that I have a bachelor’s degree has nothing to do with my ability
to express my thoughts. The only thing that could stop me is
my lack of action.
If ASEP is to keep the ball
rolling, students need to break out of their usual passive role of information
absorption and start developing a voice in the cause. I have attended
both ASEP national meetings and am a member of both the national and student
chapter. It appears to me that membership itself isn't enough.
Students need to let their professors know what is important to them, such
as a good job at graduation. Jobs with respect and a salary to live
on. Students need to publish their perspectives on the issues surrounding
ASEP, and they need to work in the development of the organization on their
own campus. To my knowledge only two ASEP Student Chapters
exist. This number is too low for ASEP development to reach anywhere
near its terminal velocity. Students and professors from schools across
the country need to begin forming student chapters and start building from
the ground up. Students from the present student chapters need to
go out and contact students from other schools to start developing a “grassroots”
network of motivated students. The development of more ASEP
student chapters is a very important step in the continued development
of professionalism. With more students, ASEP will increase
in size and in strength. The increase of student involvement will
help ensure that the organization advances appropriately towards a secure
future. Soon the students of today will become the professionals
of tomorrow. In time, those professionals will have students of their
own and the process will continue. Professors need to encourage
and help students from these chapters and the student must work to develop
membership visibility.
When I was sitting in that
ASEP Student Chapter meeting asking myself, "What am I doing here?"
The answer hit me like a hard icy snowball (I'm from Duluth, I can write
that). The answer was "Nothing, nothing at all.” I wasn't
doing anything at all but taking up space. My presence wasn’t helping
the organization advance one bit and, therefore, I wasn't helping my own
situation advance either. For ASEP and for all students like me,
we need to take a more active role in the development of our organization.
Copyright
©1997-2000 American Society of Exercise Physiologists. All Rights
Reserved.
ASEP
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