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Student interns progress from a semester-long kinesiology course to shadowing experienced peers, and finally to working independently with clients. It’s all under the supervision of licensed physical therapists who are former interns themselves.

“The model at FCAP is student-led exercise intervention overseen by professional staff,” Keila Strick said. She’s the co-clinical director at the Student Health and Wellness location and was in the first intern class in 2016.

After graduating from UVA, Strick earned her doctorate in physical therapy and returned to the Fried Center in 2021, becoming the first former intern to rejoin David Luedeka, the founding clinical director, as a staff member. Since then, more than 100 students have become interns for the Fried Center. Two other former interns, Caroline Williams and Nick Roche, have returned to the center to help grow the program.

The interns provide what the Fried Center calls “functional exercise,” a holistic approach that utilizes individualized exercise programming to address the root causes of pain rather than just its symptoms. If a client comes in with knee pain, professional staff work with the intern, such as fourth-year student Jenny Turner, to examine the client’s entire body, from the feet to the head, looking for biomechanical imbalances that may be contributing to the problem.

Fourth-year kinesiology student Jenny Turner demonstrates proper form to client Caroline Tracey, a third-year student in the College of Arts & Sciences. The Student Health and Wellness location serves UVA students, faculty, staff and community members. (Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)

“A lot of the time, knee pain can stem from the foot, the back, the hip,” Turner said.

Interns collaborate on client care, and through this detail-oriented approach, they build relationships and confidence in managing recovery plans. Full-time professional staff are available to assist if needed and usually check in briefly during sessions. Clients can continue their visits at the Fried Center, working with the interns as long as they choose, even after their initial concerns have been resolved.

Stephanie Rowley, dean of the School of Education and Human Development and a client at the Student Health and Wellness location, experiences that student leadership firsthand.

“The students are incredible,” she said. “I serve as dean to nearly all of the interns, but once I enter the gym, I become their student. I feel supported and validated. They are so skilled, and I am blown away by their deep knowledge of anatomy and physiology.”

Maggie Guggenheimer, a UVA faculty member who has worked with more than 20 student interns over three years, echoes Rowley’s confidence in the interns.

“I can say without a doubt that every single one of them is knowledgeable, dedicated, attentive and kind,” she said. “It’s inevitable that the intern I’m working with will just casually ask me to make a small change for my next set, like moving my elbow back a few degrees, and suddenly the exercise is so much harder – in a good way.”

Fourth-year kinesiology student Hailey Couling guides client Maggie Guggenheimer, a UVA staff member, through a set of pull-ups. Guggenheimer found relief from over a decade of chronic back pain within a year of starting sessions at the Fried Center. (Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)

The Fried Center operates two locations: one at Student Health and Wellness, serving UVA students, faculty, and community members; and another in Crozet, serving adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Barbara Fried and clinical founder David Luedeka established the center with a mission to make exercise accessible to underserved populations. Fried’s son Jon, who has an intellectual disability, is a Special Olympics tennis champion. Luedeka was the first healthcare specialist to identify issues with Jon’s feet, inspiring the center’s inclusive and holistic approach.

While only 9.2% of Americans with intellectual disabilities meet exercise guidelines, more than 80% of the Fried Center’s clients with intellectual and developmental disabilities now meet those standards.

“I think it is so important, not only for (healthcare professionals), but for everyone to interact with this population, because they’re really great people,” Couling said.

The hands-on experience with diverse populations is what sets the Fried Center apart from typical undergraduate programs.

“No one else in the nation can really say they’re doing what we’re doing,” said fourth-year student Ephraim Bullock, who recently committed to VCU’s physical therapy doctorate program. “Not only are we getting the education part, but we get the hands-on stuff, which is just unheard-of anywhere else.”

From left, fourth-year students Hailey Couling, Ephraim Bullock and Jenny Turner smile at the Fried Center’s Student Health and Wellness location. Couling and Turner hope to delay graduate school for a year to continue working at the Fried Center, a testament to the program’s impact on student careers. (Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)

At most universities, pre-health students shadow professionals or perform basic tasks. At the Fried Center, they work toward leading sessions independently. The program’s impact is evident in that each year, a few students delay graduate school to work another year at the center.

Couling and Turner are among them.

“Once you join, you’re in a family,” Turner said, who started as a second-year student and now serves as an intern lead, scheduling her fellow interns’ hours. “Everyone is here because they want to be here.”

“When I look back in a couple of years as a certified physical therapist, the clinician that I will be is a result of these formative years right now,” Bullock said.