Lacey White Deal, M.Ed.
Instructor
Adult Fitness Program Coordinator
Change is never easy but is usually a normal part of life that comes from an ever-changing society. Back in 2002 I finished my undergraduate degree with a Bachelor of Health and Physical Education – Fitness/Wellness. Upon graduation I joined a legacy of three generations of Tech students. I grew up hearing stories from my mother and grandmother about taking Health and Physical Education courses during their time as students. They shared stories about the teachers and the classes.
My grandmother’s experience as a student was quite different than mine. She started her college education in 1940 and later left school to become a lab technician during World War II. While raising three kids she returned to school and later joined what is now the Adult Fitness Program in 1987. I now run that program some 36 years later.
My grandmother’s Physical Education department required women to have physicals prior to attending classes. Women were still expected to wear skirts to school, and their physical activity courses were separated between men and women. By 1966 when my mother enrolled in classes to pursue her degree, classes were still separated but we had now added health to Health and Physical Education. Not until 1976 did the university see classes with no gender separation and three options of degree programs. Options that would help you pursue a degree in Health and Physical Education with a teaching certificate, one without a teaching certificate and an HPE degree focusing on recreation.
By the time I enrolled at Louisiana Tech in 1998 our program had seen the push to increase awareness of community fitness and wellness. Preparing young professionals for careers out of the school systems. We saw only two degrees offered at that time, HPE teaching and HPE Fitness/Wellness and just a few years after my graduation we had a completely new name, Health and Exercise Sciences. Not until 2009 did we officially become the Department of Kinesiology.
A lot has changed at Louisiana Tech since 1940 when a bachelor’s degree in physical education was first offered. The demands of our world have and are still changing. During our early years health care workers came directly from degrees in biology and nursing. HPE students were expected to be coaches, PE teachers, lead community recreation programs and become personal trainers. Now the demands of our health care system see students graduating with a degree in Kinesiology pursuing further education to become doctors, physical therapists, occupational therapists, physicians assistance, athletic trainers, chiropractors, medical sales representatives, professorsand many other professions directly related to providing the highest level of health care to our communities.
But these careers are not the only ones we see our students pursing. We currently offer two concentrations within our department, Kinesiology and Health Sciences and Exercise and Health Promotion. Had these two degrees been offered in 1998 when I enrolled as a student, I would have been working toward a degree in Health Promotion. I learned a lot during my time at Tech. Information I still share today with my students, but again, the world has changed a lot since my time as a student. Upon graduation I moved to Texas and worked as an aquatics professional running recreational and competitive aquatics facilities in Houston and Austin, TX. Most of what I applied to my job I learned on the job and from other people working within my profession. This is no different today, but there were many times that I felt like there was information I could have learned in college. But my degree was heavily blended with our teacher preparation program.
Since I got the chance to return to Louisiana Tech as an Instructor in 2015 my main purpose as a teacher has been to help my students prepare for their future careers. I teach several classes today that I took as a student. When planning I think about the demands of my jobs outside of academia and what I needed to know to be successful in my work. Things that would have prepared me to stress less, be more organized and serve my customers better.
This spring the Department of Kinesiology will graduate our last two remaining students with degrees in Health and Physical Education. A legacy of 85 years will be over. Becoming a PE teacher today is not an easy task. School systems are limiting physical education to the bare minimum. Making jobs in this field extremely hard to find. We as a department really had to think about what this would mean for our students. With most of our students pursuing degrees in our Health Sciences curriculum we had an opportunity to really think about what would best serve our remaining students in our Exercise & Health Promotion curriculum.
With Health and Physical Education no longer existing we had the chance to develop courses that were previously geared toward educator development to really thinking about our community recreation settings and providing a more diverse background within our Health Promotion concentration. Building out core curriculum classes that really served their specific needs and utilizing their elective courses to prepare them for the career of their choosing, whether it be a coach, teacher, personal trainer, strength and conditioning coach, medical sales representative, athletic trainer, community recreation leader or a certified health coach.
We also wanted to make it easier for students to gain additional knowledge within one or more of our minor concentrations in exercise and sport psychology, health coaching or sport performance. Adding one of these minors would provide our students with an even more diverse background, with even more knowledge to help them pursue their future career.
We know that change is always around the corner and in the Department of Kinesiology we value building strong community relationships outside of academics that can help us anticipate changes and see new trends. Serving our students is always our first priority, as it was in 1940 when my grandmother took HPE 514 – Volleyball and Mass Badminton. I always tell my KINE 202 – Foundations of Kinesiology the same thing. “My goal is to be the person that I needed when I was young.”
Lacey Deal is starting her 8th year as an instructor within the Department of Kinesiology. She teachers KINE 202: Foundations of Kinesiology, KINE 414: Introduction to Adaptive Physical Activity, KINE 254: Youth Fitness Programming, KINE 425: Practicum (Adult Fitness) and is the coordinator of the Adult Fitness Program. Fun fact…she learned to jump of the diving board at the old La Tech Natatorium while her grandmother was participating in an Adult Fitness class in 1987. She later was a practicum student under Mrs. Smiley Reeves and a graduate teaching assistant for Ms. Rhonda Boyd, both of whom she now teaches with in the program. She even convinced her mother to join the program a few years back. She is married to Brad who teaches in the School of Design’s Architecture Program. They have two boys Oli (14 years) and Finn (10 years). With two teachers in the house they spend most of their summers taking adventures to National Parks.
The Exponential Factor 