Zach Thissan, a junior majoring in exercise science, is in his second season as Offensive Lineman for SMSU’s football team and works as a student trainer for the Wellness & Human Performance Center on campus.

SMSU’s Wellness & Human Performance Center offers free services to SMSU students and serves other members of the community. SMSU’s program seeks to help its patients reach their best level of health and fitness.

Exercise Students in their junior or senior year act as student trainers and receive hands-on experience for their degree. Thissan assists Professor Kris Cleveland with her physical therapy work. Twice a week, Thissan works at the center and helps patients perform their exercises and assists them with their care.

“I got into doing PT just based of off my own personal life experiences, it was just something that interested me,” Thissan said. Physical therapy helped Thissan in his own athletic career, which led him to pursue it as a career.

Thissan has been involved in athletics his whole life and started playing sports in fourth grade.

“I’ve learned a lot through Kris,” Thissan said, “it’s really helped, just identifying like if I start feeling myself getting weak in an area.” Thissan hopes to pursue graduate school in physical therapy. He plans to apply to graduate schools in the Twin Cities.

“I love what I’m doing and just look forward to doing this in the future and having this as a full-time job,” Thissan said.