As you enter your junior year, you will be required to begin your 150 hours of a health science practicum experience. This type of experiential learning involves hands-on work experiences or observing a health science professional working throughout their typical workday. These experiences not only allow you the opportunity to get clinical exposure, so that you know what to expect from a career before entering the professional or post-graduation fields, but a majority of health science professional programs require undergraduate students to complete observation hours as part of their prerequisites.
As you enter your senior year, you will be required to complete a research practicum experience. This experience is designed to enrich your undergraduate experience through basic research, publishing, scholarship and creative activities that broaden and deepen your learning. In the research practicum, students work one on one with an experienced exercise and sport science faculty member. Students can choose from a variety of topics about exercise and sport science, from anatomical, physiological, biomechanical and nutritional to spiritual and behavioral. Research is imperative in broadening your knowledge of the health sciences. This experience is designed to enrich your overall perspective on how new information in these fields is discovered.
The University’s close proximity to Chicago gives you nearly limitless opportunities to learn through these practicum experiences. Health science students can participate in consortium-type seminars offered through the Associated Colleges of the Chicago Area—a partnership of 15 liberal arts schools and government laboratories.