Local News
UW-L students, community benefiting from hands-on approach
Students learning through real-world experience.
Real-world experience is paying off for students and the programs they’re partnered with in La Crosse.
It’s a two-semester process for physical therapy students at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
“The fall semester is spent developing the program, and the spring semester is spent executing it,” UW-L professor Heather Fortuine said.
Several programs in the area are being run exclusively by students, including helping the public research health info online at the library, ACL injury prevention at Aquinas High School and an after-school fitness program for staff at Summit Elementary.
There, the UW-L students found that 80 percent of adults don’t meet required physical activity.
“It’s overwhelmingly positive,” Fortuine said. “I do site visits and people come up to me and are so thankful for the work the students are doing.
Students begin the program picking a topic from the Healthy People 2020 website.