News

By Alex Freeman, MCC Communications Coordinator

What started as a class addition to Montcalm Community College’s course catalog has now evolved into a full-fledged academic program. 

This fall, MCC launched an associate degree in Exercise Science – a dynamic addition to its expanding health and human services offerings. 

The idea gained momentum when an “Introduction to Exercise Science” class was added to the 2024-2025 schedule as part of the MiTransfer Pathway in Exercise Science. 

As students were voicing interest for the class, MCC Dean of Health and Human Services Tracy Zamarron received an application for an adjunct instructor position from Dr. Alex Montoye – a tenured exercise science and health sciences professor at Alma College. 

With student interest surging and Montoye expressing interest in teaching the course, it was clear that the demand for exercise science was there – a trend that Montoye has seen in recent years. With key factors aligning, Zamarron saw the perfect opportunity to build something bigger. 

“It’s growing everywhere in the state as a way for students to pursue health-based careers — physical therapy, physician assistants, even medical doctors, which have been historically biology- or chemistry-focused areas,” Montoye said. “Students are realizing that getting applied life science or human biology-type coursework that you’d see in an exercise science program is really good preparation for those and other related pathways.” 

After teaching the introductory course at MCC, Montoye was inspired to help develop a full exercise science program. In conversations with Zamarron, both agreed there was clear student interest and a strong need for an associate degree. 

“Other community colleges have exercise science, so we decided to look at those programs,” Zamarron said. “Alex knows the industry so well, so he vetted what programs are good and what works best in those programs, and he was confident we could do this here at MCC.” 

“This is an area that I’ve only seen grown in places, so what would that look like here?” Montoye said. “What students would we try and serve and what would we try to accomplish with this kind of program? From those conversations, we were able to develop a template, which is now the associate degree program.” 

With Montoye helping to build the exercise science program throughout the summer, plenty of new equipment was ordered and housed in the Instruction North Building on MCC’s Sidney campus. Some of the equipment includes new treadmills and exercise bikes, a body composition analyzer, a portable metabolic analyzer, blood-testing instruments, muscle-function equipment, and various other health and sport testing equipment. Many of the exercise science classes will also have a lab component where students will get hands-on experience with the equipment. 

“We’ll spend a lot of time in the lab or in the weight room doing these tests,” Montoye said. “Students will learn how to conduct the tests, what each test measures and why we want to measure that outcome. They’ll learn how to interpret the tests and then how to relay the results to the person on whom they conducted the tests. It’s great real-world practice for students, and the tests we do have real value for those we’re testing. In my past work, we’ve used such testing to help people implement health-focused lifestyle changes, increased the specificity of training and rehabilitation strategies for athletes, and occasionally found results which have identified health issues that warranted referring the people we tested for medical evaluation.” 

Montoye, who has since been hired for the full-time exercise science and biology faculty position at MCC, laid out three main components and goals of the exercise science program — enhancing dual enrollment partnerships, cultivating classes to create new certification programs and creating as many transfer pathways to four-year universities as possible. These goals also align with MCC’s CORE Strategic Plan. 

Dual enrollment will see a major tie-in with strength and conditioning classes at MCC. This fall, three sections of strength and conditioning will be offered — one on campus at MCC, one online through Greenville High School and one online through Belding High School.  

There are plans to develop a large number of certifications under the exercise science umbrella at MCC. With just one or two classes, it is the hope of Zamarron that people can leave MCC with a certification that can help them with their career endeavors. 

“We’ve discussed EKG certifications, personal fitness certifications, strength and conditioning certifications,” Zamarron said. “The certifications are where it’s at right now, especially at community colleges, and they can do so many things with that. Certifications give students something they can use right away. Even if life interrupts their education, they leave with a credential that helps them get hired.” 

Many jobs in the exercise science field typically require a four-year degree or more advanced degree, and Zamarron said this program can serve as a “launching pad” for local students. With an exercise science education provided by MCC, students can go in many different directions for a desired career path, including athletic training, chiropractic, dentistry, fitness instruction, occupational health and safety, physical and occupational therapy, strength and conditioning, coaching, sports science and sports medicine, just to name a few. Zamarron hopes the classes help to provide exposure to many different career paths in the exercise science field to help students understand their next steps. 

“Anything in the health and fitness industry, this would work for,” she said. 

To help with this, Montoye and Zamarron are hopeful to secure as many transfer pathways with four-year institutions as they can.  

“I want to meet with those individuals and try to figure out what the pathways look like for students when they graduate from here and set up as many articulations or easy transfer agreements as possible,” Montoye said. “Students will be getting a great foundational education here at MCC. If they can then see clear pathways for further education, it makes it easier to envision how they could make these things happen. It’s often easier to follow a defined path than to make their own path.”