Southeastern Louisiana University’s Department of Kinesiology and Health Studies hosted its annual High School Athletic Training Day on March 16 from 9 a.m. to noon.
High school athletic trainers and students from parishes around Louisiana were invited to the event, which is sponsored by the Athletic Training Education program.
Athletic training day began in the Student Union Theatre where students  and athletic trainers were welcomed and split into groups of 20 to be led around the Kinesiology building by upper classmen who major in the field.
Athletic training day is done in support of National Athletic training month and is in its second year.
Those who attended received an overview of the program and were shown demonstrations, given a tour of the facilities and were able to have their questions answered in a question and answer session.
The visiting students attended many classes including a cardiopulmonary resuscitation, better known as CPR, training class held by senior athletic training major Alan Miller.
“In this class, we covered basic CPR and AED [automated external defibrillator] training,” said Miller. “It is important for the students to learn this because it could help them out in the field if the can do CPR and can use an AED.”
Last year’s Athletic Training Day played host to over 100 attendees and this year’s number was very similar.
According to Josh Yellen, interim program director of athletic training education, several of the invited high school’s athletic trainers are Alumni of Southeastern.
 “We’re teaching the students from these high schools about our programs,” said Yellen. “We’re also giving them information on getting accepted into Southeastern as well as the housing program.”
Yellen pointed out that the visiting high school students were also shown how Southeastern can provide them with the knowledge that they will need for careers in athletic training and that athletic training is a growing area of interest in the workforce. Yellen used Disney World as an example, who hires athletic trainers to help prevent work related injuries to the employees.
“Here at Southeastern we are aligned with many different physicians as well as the health center on campus so they can observe surgeries and work with orthopedics,” said Yellen.  “It is a very diverse study.”