Written by Emmett Steele ‘22
When covid hit, Kaitlyn ‘Katie’ Dobinson-Dunne, a Mohawk College student in her second semester of the Health, Wellness and Fitness program, saw an opportunity to change her life and leave a job she didn’t like. With her newfound free time, Katie dove into a new hobby: fitness.
“I wasn’t happy in my job before covid, and it kind of dragged my entire life down,” Katie said. “When covid happened, I decided that I wanted to try and improve my health. I started working on myself and the more I got into improving my fitness and overall wellness the better I felt, and it was a cycle like that.”
After leaving her job Katie was thinking about her future and felt limited, thinking it was too late to go back to school.
“I thought I was going to be stuck in that job forever because the money was great and with the education I had at the time, I wouldn’t be able to go anywhere else and support myself, and that it was too late to go to school,” Katie said. “Even if I wanted to go back to school, I didn’t know what I would want to do.”
Katie realized that her newfound interest in health and fitness could play a role in her career when she found the Health, Wellness and Fitness program.
“I found the program because I had been doing my own home workout through covid. I came across a handful of different programs that I might like to take, and I thought ‘well, I’m already so keen to work on my own fitness and learn more about health and wellness so why not make a career out of it?’”
She had begun to form a plan for her future, but Katie had doubts. She was concerned about returning to college as a mature student, and whether she would fit in.
“When I signed up for the program, I questioned myself because I thought I would be one of the only women, that I would be one of the oldest, and that I’ll be one of the most out of shape,” Katie said. “I felt like I really wasn’t going to belong, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Our class alone has so much diversity in every way that you can think of. You don’t have to be fit in order to learn fitness and teach fitness.”
While Katie had her concerns about returning to school, she’s thankful that she chose to follow her gut.
“I’m very happy with the program. I’m only in my second semester and I’ve already learned so much,” Katie said. “For anyone interested in health, wellness and fitness, I would say this is the place to be.”
Since leaving her previous job Katie has been working as a dance instructor, and she has already started incorporating her new skills into her lessons.
“I would like to take away from this a lot of knowledge that would make me more employable as an instructor,” Katie said. “It has already applied to my dance students, the way that I teach now is already not the same as the way I taught two months ago.”
Katie’s interest in health goes beyond fitness, and she’s thankful that her program dives deep into what helps to keep a person healthy.
“I’m also really interested in nutrition; I’m really excited for the nutrition program in our third semester,” Katie said. “With our field placement I’m going to get the opportunity to maybe explore different avenues of the fitness industry. I’ll see if personal training is something I want to do or see if being a nutritionist is something I would like to explore.”
“In our next semester we get one field placement and in our last semester is another flied placement, so we’ll have two different opportunities to explore things that we might be interested in,” Katie said.
Being uncertain where to go next with your life is a feeling many people can relate to, but Katie’s experience shows that you can make the best out of uncertainty.
“Joining the program is one of the best decisions I’ve made. I’m having the time of my life right now,” Katie said. “For a while approaching it, I thought my most exciting days were behind me, but I would say I’m living my most exciting times right now. I’m loving being a student, I’m loving my program, and I’m just very excited.”
Thanks to her experience with the program, Katie believes that health and fitness can help make anyone Future Ready.
“If this is something that you’re interested in, get ready to step a little out of your comfort zone,” Katie said. “There is a lot of theoretical work that goes into this, a lot of brain work, not just brawn. But also get ready to have your limits pushed physically. I would say there’s a challenge for anybody, no matter how you’re coming in. Just because you don’t want to be a personal trainer doesn’t mean this isn’t the spot for you.”
