Employer partners fuel Lakeland’s Co-Op program
Lakeland University’s Cooperative Education program provides hours of professional experience for LU students to help them prepare for their post-graduation careers.
Key to the program is the many Co-Op partner businesses and organizations who employ Lakeland’s students in full- and part-time jobs, providing priceless hands-on work opportunities, workplace culture immersion and numerous other benefits.
ATI Physical Therapy and Lakeland’s exercise science program have forged a strong relationship that’s allowed LU students to gain important professional experience as undergraduates.
Since the spring of 2023, six Lakeland students have logged a total of at least 1,380 hours and earned 31 academic credits in 12 different experiences at ATI’s two Sheboygan, Wis., clinics.
Tony Gries, ATI multi-site clinic director and physical therapist, said Lakeland students perform a variety of functions, from office administrative work to directly helping patients with care.
“The biggest piece is spending time with patients on the floor, building a rapport and working with patients, especially when we are busy,” Gries said. “They’re running though some exercises and seeing if patients have any questions.
“They don’t get to treat patients because they don’t have a license, but they’re getting to know people and talking through things. This allows them to problem solve in their own mind and come to us and ask questions.”
Katelyn Kitsembel, who graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science, is among the Lakeland students who worked at ATI.
“My experience at ATI confirmed what I want to do,” said Kitsembel, who was named Lakeland’s Outstanding Student in Exercise Science and Experiential Learner of the Year. “After a month, I got comfortable with patients and said, ‘This is what I want.’
“I saw a real connection between what I was learning in the classroom and on the job. In a reserve way, being in the clinic helped me in the classroom. I initially saw things in the clinic that I didn’t see in the classroom yet.”
Kitsembel, who will start this fall at Northwestern University’s highly regarded Doctor of Physical Therapy program, performed a wide range of tasks (“Everything under the sun,” she said), from leading patients through exercise programs to helping patients with insurance and other paperwork to cleaning the clinic.
“It’s rewarding to create relationships with patients outside of their injury, get to know who they are and see them evolve from that first day meeting them to their discharge,” Kitsembel said. “It’s rewarding to push people past their comfort zone. You get to help them work toward their goals.”
Gries said the opportunity for students to work directly with patients is a huge advantage that supplements the already strong skills they have learned in Lakeland’s exercise science classroom and lab.
“The program has done a great job of preparing them with a lot of exercise science skills,” Gries said. “I’m impressed with their preparedness and how they’re ready to step in and help.
“We’re getting students usually on a track to go into physical therapy that want to be there, want to learn and really help our patients. They are forward thinking and getting an experience understanding what physical therapy is and it’s benefiting them for their future career.”
