Compiled Service Learning Reflections

HS 380 – Worksite Health Promotion – Spring 2005

This document includes copies of Service Learning Reflections from 24 students that completed my HS 380 class in the Spring of 2005. The comments reveal the impact that service learning component has had on the students in my HS 380 class. The reflections are unedited student comments and they were not chosen or selected in any way. The compiled list includes those students that submitted the assignment electronically since this made it easier to create a compiled file. Names were removed to protect student confidentiality.

The students consistently report that they didn’t know what to expect from the class and were initially leary about the service learning activities. Almost all students reflected positively about the experience and commented about how it impacted their learning and their perspective of the health promotion field.

1 Service Learning Reflection Paper

This semester for our HS 380 class we had the opportunity to work with Tones on their worksite health promotion program. This has been an educational and productive experience.

When we started the class I was already familiar with the concept of worksite health promotion programs. I did some research in the previous semester and wrote a paper on the subject. This allowed me to see first hand why these types of programs are so beneficial for both employees and employers. I also worked at Pella Windows and Doors for a year and a half. In my experience there, we were always trying to improve ergonomic use in the facility through utilizing committees and employee input. We also had many opportunities to join slow pitch, volleyball, and wallyball leagues to help keep us in shape and create a friendlier work environment. My experience in this class helped to reinforce those ideas.

This project made me realize that there are many things that go into a program like this. You have to think of ways to inform every employee, and design things that would peak their interest, show them the benefits of change, inform them on how to start to make the change to a healthier life, and keep them going on a positive path.

These types of programs are beneficial not only to improve health of the employees, but they save the company’s money in health care, they tend to increase production, and they create a more positive attitude among employees.

On thing that I noticed about Tones is that they do not promote group activities like they could. I know there are the teams for Lighten Up Iowa, but they should get involved in slow pitch or volleyball leagues. This will get them out in the fresh air and in my past experience I have found that it creates comradery among employees and breaks down the communication barriers between managers and lower level employees.

This experience has helped me to see that it takes a lot more than a few posters to get people to join a program like this. There’s planning, implementing, evaluation of the program, and maintain the program that each involves more detailed steps. I have learned that you have to be aggressive when trying to recruit employees for the program, and have to show them that it is a positive move.

With my previous experience and the lessons that I learned during this project and the hands on approach has taught me what it takes, and the determination needed to succeed when implementing and sustaining a worksite health promotion program.

2. Service Learning Reflection

To begin with, I really didn’t think that doing this service learning project would be all that helpful to me. I know that some people have been bored and annoyed by doing this service learning project at times. So, I would have to say that my initial reaction to the service learning experience has been one of ups and downs.

The upside is that we, who are looking to have a career in worksite health promotion i.e. corporate fitness, get to learn how a company uses its health promotion to improve the health standards of its employees. We can actually see what the book and lecture is teaching us in a real life situation. We will be able to tell which types of programs actually do work in real life situations, instead of ones that we think will work but don’t know for sure might.(Watch professional tone) For instance, we want to implement a program where we want the employees to sign up and do fundraising walks. This is a great idea to get the employees up and active, but if we didn’t have this experience to actually implement it with Tone’s, we would not know if it was a good or bad idea. This is why this service learning project is a good idea to do.

The downside is that we don’t get to participate in all of the functions that are included in doing a worksite health promotion. While it is great to learn one facet of health promotion, it would be more beneficial to the people that want to do this for a career to have more involvement in other areas of the health promotion instead of just one. A reason why we don’t do more than what we are assigned to do could be because it would be too much for one individual to do. But if we were in groups of 5 or 6, we could all get involved and learn more than what we are now. I don’t know if that would work, but it’s just an idea.

All in all, I would have to say that I have learned some from this service learning project, but not a whole lot. I wish it was interesting to me to do, but a lot of the times my group just sits around and does nothing. This is why I wish I could be more involved in the other aspects of the service learning project.

3. Class Reflection

The first week that we had class and learned about our service learning at Tone’s I was really pretty excited about class. I thought it would give me a chance to (do real life situations and people?). I was also looking forward to the fact that it wasn’t all going to be about just listening to lecture everyday in class. After we took the tour and things kind of started going I started to get a little disappointed. I was mainly disappointed by the little amount of interest that these people have for physical activity. The other day when I went in a woman was talking about signing up for the “Lunch and Learn” and then she found out that we were going to be talking about health and exercise and she wasn’t too interested in it after that. I’m in the fitness group so I would mainly be working with people who want to try and change, but that number is so few. I think that most of the people there are still in the precontemplation stage that my job isn’t quite as important as some of the other groups are. I think that we just need to keep stressing the importance of exercise.

Wednesday myself and two other girls went up to assist in the core strength training. When we first arrived there wasn’t anyone in the fitness center. We waited for about 10 minutes then finally 3 women in there thirties and forties showed up. They were very eager to learn, but they were women who were already active and seemed to be in very good physical health. I suppose that’s good for them, I was just hoping to get more in than that. We taught them the proper way to do a crunch and few different exercises with the stability ball. We found that they had been using improper form with the ball which was causing them pain, so we showed them the right way. We ended up spending about 40 minutes with them. I had a lot of fun with them. They were really nice and eager to learn.

I suppose overall it’s kind of a nice experience to get, although, I don’t think I would ever want to work in worksite health promotion. At least at a gym when someone signs up they are at least in the contemplation stage. I think at the beginning of the year I thought we were going to have a lot of people participating but it is a lot harder than I thought it would be.

4. Service Learning Project Reflections Paper

When I began this class, my idea of worksite health promotion consisted of the idea that some large corporations had fitness centers within their walls and fitness professionals working for them. I thought that the field was growing, but I didn’t really understand the idea of worksite health promotion. So far, from class and the Tones project, my initial ideas of the area have changed a bit. First off, there is obviously a lot more to worksite health promotion than having a trainer and a fitness center on site. I was unaware of the amount of work it takes to promote health especially with a limited and minimal budget such as what is available from Tones. My impression now leads me to believe that companies want all of the benefits of health promotion but are still not quite ready to make all the sacrifices and budget changes to make significant health benefits completely possible. Again though, I could be wrong. Another misconception that I had of the field of health promotion is the idea that subtle things like ergonomic stretches, nutrition choices in the cafeteria, and stress relief techniques were a part of worksite health promotion. By being a part of this project these different things have not only come to my attention, but I have been able to contribute to the implementation of some of these types of things.

From this project I have learned a few things about myself in regards to this field of employment and opportunity. Though I haven’t spent a whole lot of time at Tone’s, I really enjoyed the process of coming up with ideas for my groups portion of the project. I worked in the Physical Activity Tracking group, but we worked very closely with the Personal Training and the Fitness Assessment groups. Together we came up with a bunch of program ideas to try and incorporate into what Tone’s already offered their employees. My group specifically has been in charge of mostly figuring out and trying to implement the computer software that will be keeping track of each employee’s physical fitness participation. We also worked to compile previous data from Tone’s in order to award prizes for participation in a previous Tone’s project called Tonolympics. The skills I have that have been most beneficial so far in this project have been creativity, mostly involved with helping brainstorm for ideas, and some basic computer skills, which have proven necessary in working with the required software and compiling data.

In response to the effects of this project on my career plans, it has had a pretty large impact. At the beginning of this semester I thought I had a fairly good idea of what I really wanted to be doing when I finished up with my schooling. Through not only this project, but also a few other classes I have made a few changes to my goals. Initially I had a notion that I wanted to be involved with a large corporation within whatever fitness facility they may offer. My long term goal was to eventually become involved in some sort of consulting for companies to help them improve their individual company’s wellness. After this Tone’s project I feel that this may not be particularly for me. The way that things work within Tone’s gives me a feel for how things may work within similar large workplace settings, and I for one would like to work in a different environment. I would prefer to be somewhere where fitness and service are the biggest priority. Companies are built to supply and product, so efficiency and profit are the top priorities. Efficiency is greatly affected by the wellness within the company, but that is not enough for me. This project was a great eye opener for me and it has really helped me to shape my plans for the future.

5. Service Learning Reflection

Before taking this class I honestly didn’t think much about worksite health promotion. I really didn’t know what it all entailed or consisted of. I did know that worksite health promotion has increased for a number of reasons. After completing half of this class I have learned a great deal. The service learning activity with tones has helped me realize everything that is needed for a health promotion program. I have participated in the development of the Tones monthly newsletter. Upon completion of the first newsletter I saw how much communication is needed between everyone to make sure all the information is included. It became obvious that organization was key as well, which is a skill of mine that has increased because of this activity. I saw the importance of research when finding articles to put in the newsletter. It was also interesting to see all the programs and opportunities for the employees. I have also realized how important some kind of questionnaire or survey is for the employees to complete to better provide services that meet their needs. The ability to research will help me in any career path I choose, as well as the communication and organizational skills of mine that improved. It is very likely that I will help in creating a newsletter in my future career, so the group I participated in was helpful to me in many ways.

6. Service Learning Reflection

While first learning of the service learning project involving Tones Spices, I was really excited about the chance to participate. The whole worksite health promotion idea was something I was unfamiliar with, but wanted to know more about. After the first week, we got our group assignments and I was happy with being assigned to the Program Planning Group. After our site visit to Tones, I felt really motivated to help the people at Tones get involved in stress management and physical activity, particularly the factory workers. I could see why the workers on the floor would be stressed and physically drained after working a long day, but felt confident in our class’s ability to reduce some of the stress and add benefits to their jobs.

Our group has been responsible for creating values on the Physical Activity Tracker and making it available to Tones workers. We decided on different point rewards for eating behavior, physical activity, attending Lunch N’ Learns, filling out surveys, etc. The employees can track their positive actions in order to earn rewards both monthly and at the end of the semester. Attending the kick-off event at Tones in February was really great. We got to meet lots of Tones employees while promoting our programs and getting information on their needs through surveys and health assessments.

Being involved in this service learning project has helped me realize that promoting and installing a worksite health promotion program is tons of work. Our class has a bunch of different groups who work on completely different tasks, and it still seems as though we never have enough time or people. Working on this project has given me confidence to talk to people about health activities and programs. I have also found that for the most part, people are very interested and willing to start behavior changes if you give them options.

By participating in this project, I know that I have to increase my knowledge about healthy behaviors. I also need to learn how to come up with alternatives when people say they do not have the time, money, or the means to exercise and eat healthy. I feel that when I reach the point of complete confidence in my health knowledge and communication skills, I can really motivate people to change.

Now that I’ve gotten an inside look at the different areas of worksite health promotion, I am very interested in being involved in similar programs later on. I will definitely take the knowledge I learn in this class with me when I find a job in a fitness center. Hopefully I can either help implement a program with the company I work for, or help improve an already existing plan.

7. Service Learning Reflection

Worksite Health Promotion was not a class that was familiar to me. From the title I expected the class was about companies and corporate wellness. I came into this class expecting to learn about programming and ways to involve employees at a larger company, not smaller businesses. Overall, data regarding problem areas and targeted behaviors are important to the company in a broader spectrum. What I didn’t realize behind much of worksite health promotion was behavior change theory. Instead of working at a “corporate” level with a large amount of people at a time, worksite health is much more individualized and targets individual behavior change. This class builds off of other classes in the department: Community Health 310 and Exercise Psychology 366 both emphasized behavior change in populations.

One area that is vitally important in worksite health, especially to the company CEO’s, CFO’s and those that control budgets, is the cost/benefits ratio. Showing graphs, charts and figures that actually SAVE the company money in the long run is the most effective argument for a worksite health promotion program. Learning specific risk factors and ways to calculate risk is an important tool that can be used at any level. This kind of work targets at risk populations and problem areas and may help improve the company in more ways than just health of the employees—including absenteeism reduction, improved productivity, more cohesive work environment and healthier employees, mentally and physically.

I have been interested in community and public health for a very long time. I know that behavior change is a large part of any health program. I realized through this class that I am not interested in working with populations who do not want to change. My experience began with working for the Tobacco Division for the Iowa Department of Public Health. Working the JEL program made me realize that no matter how terrible cigarettes are for you and even though people are aware that they cause health problems, some people don’t want to change. The idea of behavior change and the stages of change were reinforced in this class. I want to work in an area that people are ready and willing and WANT to change, are in the contemplation and action stages. To me, it is frustrating to educate people on the risks and the dangers of a problem, but no matter how much YOU do, they aren’t going to change unless it comes from them.

I learned through this class that I do not want to sit behind a desk and design programs or write papers and books. I am very much a people-person and would like to be out in a community actually working with people on a day-to-day basis. To be successful in my future career, I need to learn more aspects of social interaction and motives behind why people do the things they do. Sociology and psychology courses will be helpful in helping me relate to the populations I want to work with in the area of maternal and child health. I may pursue nursing and knowledge of health promotion will be helpful in determining current programs that work or need to be altered.

Overall, the worksite health promotion class has given Tones employees different options to explore their health and fitness. That includes education and materials to further explore risk areas. I think that any information or opportunities that we can provide will make a difference. My contribution to the Tones Worksite Health Promotion Program is in the behavior change group, or the Lunch and Learn Group. I worked on the PowerPoint presentation for the first Lunch and Learn for Heart Healthy Month. We included information from the American Heart Association and the Center for Disease Control and the National Institute of Health. Although I did not actually present the information, the Lunch and Learn was successful and hopefully the participants learned some very important information regarding heart health. The second Lunch and Learn presentation is going to be tomorrow, March 25. I am presenting information on Nutrition and health. I think this is a great way to engage employees to think about their own health and how their nutrition affects their health. Although a Lunch and Learn may only last 20 minutes and the information is brief and general, I hope that it sparks some interest in the subject matter and people are willing to do some research on their own about the topics we are presenting. We are providing the employees with a challenge for this month and we hope to see a change at the next Lunch and Learn.

8. Service Learning Reflection

I think that the Service Learning Project with Tones is a great way to get real-world experience while still in college. I think it will be a valuable experience for me.

Before this project I knew about and was very interested in corporate wellness programs. I think they are a great way to promote healthy behaviors and make them more available to people. I still believe that. But now I see how much work it actually takes to get one going. A good program must be built up. You can’t have everything at once. I like the idea that these programs can offer a variety of health services and address several health issues. However a program doesn’t start out with everything. More must be added as the program is shown to be successful and the budget increased. Top management involvement and support are extremely important for a successful program.

From doing this activity I have learned that I like to come up with ideas for designing and planning the program. I have found that I am good at taking a leadership role, while also involving and encouraging everyone else. I would like to learn even more about program design and implementation so that I have a good base for my future career. It seems like the class is coming up with great ideas. But it often feels like the instructors and class are on the same page one day, then the next day it seems like what we had all talked about has been totally disregarded, and that the staff is really doing a lot of the work on its own. There needs to be much clearer communication about what is really expected from us and what our job in the project is in order to get the most out of it. I think it could be an even more valuable experience than it already is.

9. Service Learning Reflection

My initial reaction with the service learning project with Tone’s Spices has been very positive. At first I thought it would be easy to get the employees to start a wellness program, but now after the first few months of the project I realize how hard it really is to motivate people to change their lifestyles, let alone incorporating something like fitness into it. I have not had too much exposure to worksite health promotion because I have never worked in a big corporation where something like that has come about. I have, however, supported my mom with her company’s program recently after starting this class. I have become more interested in this topic and have begun talking to her about this and found that all Illinois state employees are encouraged to walk at least 2 miles a day. If the employees choose to be a part of this program they get free pedometers and entries into a big drawing for a prize trip at the end of the year.

For this project, I have been a part of the web design group. I have never really had too much experience working with making my own web site since I was younger so it was a really good refresher and I really enjoy it. I have never had the opportunity to work with a web program for a class or anything outside of my home just for fun. I have learned that a lot of time and patience goes into designing a web page along with cooperation from all the groups that have information that they want on it. Communication has been somewhat difficult between the groups but is very important to keep the site updated. By the end of the semester, I feel that I will be comfortable using a program such as dream weaver and feel that I could make or co-create a web site for a future company that I will work for. I feel that with my creativity and experience through this project that I could successfully be on a Web Media team in my future career.

10. Service Learning Reflection

Worksite health promotion has always been an interest of mine. I am continuously hearing about different companies who have a program and how successful they have all been. I think it is an excellent and easy way for the employees of the company to want to start an overall healthier life style for themselves. I am curious as to why some of the employees don’t take part. To me all I see in participating in a health promotion program is positive, a win-win situation for all involved. By taking part they are offered many great benefits and incentives aside from easily becoming a healthier person. Working for Mary Greeley has been my first opportunity as an employee to participate in health promotion. The incentive they give is money at the end of the program. Money is great because who couldn’t use a little extra money at any time. What gets me is that many of my co-workers are college students like myself, but choose not to participate. When I have asked why they chose not to participate they really don’t have an answer. Maybe people are just lazy and don’t want to put in the small amount of time to record what they have done. Another incentive program that I have participated in was the Rec Milers Club that recreation services offers. It does not include money as an incentive, but it has other fun prizes that you work for as you reach different point levels. Through my participation in a couple of different programs I have learned that yes, there are many who do get involved and reach their goals through participation, but there are also still too many that don’t participate for no apparent reason. This is whom we need to target by helping them realize how much it can help with their overall health. I am glad that I went down to Tones for their kick-off a few weeks back. It was great to see how excited many of the employees were about our “Spice Up Your Life” program. To me it seemed that many of them had been holding this in and are anxious and ready to get out there and start a program. It was also fun to see interaction among the employees. There were a few that just wanted to participate by themselves, but the majority were running around looking for co-workers to join their team. This really makes me look forward to a career in health promotion. Everyone has the potential in them and for me to know that I could someday bring that out and help people become healthier and have a happier lifestyle makes me excited. To see people work together and get excited about improving their life is a great thing. Through this class and working with Tones I have realized that health promotion has many different aspects to it and much time must go into implementing a program with a company. It takes a lot of hard work know matter what you are working on but the end result is well worth it. The process of seeing a person change and then seeing the product is a great reward for the work spent.

11. Service Learning Reflection

When I first entered the 380 classroom I honestly did not know what to expect. Before this class I had only read about or been taught a little about the field of worksite health promotion so I honestly was coming in kind of blind or naive you could say. After hearing a few days of lecture I was starting to get more of a handle on what the profession is about and when I heard about the service learning project I was very excited. My initial reaction to the project was a lot of excitement. Finally I can take some things I learn and apply it to a real life situation instead of a made up scenario on a piece of paper. As we progressed into more detail about the project I still became more excited and maybe a little nervous as well. I have never actually taken class taught materials and applied them to someone else’s life before so that can be a little intimidating. But as the groups formed I was again finding myself very interested. I was placed in the lunch and learn group which I had hoped I would be mainly because in my life I just love to talk to people. I’m a people person what can I say. Progressing everyday closer to the kickoff event I found myself starting to get very nervous about seeing all these people and just wondering how they will react to what I have to say. I hoped they would not think I was just some college student who was acting to know what he was talking about. When the day came it turned out very well though, the people were very nice and for the most part very interested and intrigued by what we had to say. The next week our group did a lunch and learn but I was not included in that section so I had hoped it would go well, which it did from what I hear. This week I have the privilege of doing my first lunch and learn with Tiffany and am very excited about it yet nervous at the same time. After seeing all these things come?? about the project has really changed my attitude towards the profession. At first I thought it was exciting but at the same time couldn’t be that difficult. I was wrong. Going to Tones and seeing the workers and trying to put together things that they will understand and take to heart is a very challenging and time consuming task. So overall the class and the project has really given me a new found appreciation for the profession as well as a new sense of excitement towards something I had only heard about.

The class in general is teaching me many things about health promotion in general that I hope to use in my career. I have come to see that the hardest thing about working in any health profession is finding the people who are willing, getting them motivated to do something, and keeping them motivated throughout the program. I hope to take this skill and further understanding about the way people are to any job I have in the future and use it to the best of my abilities.

12. Service Learning Reflection #1

Before taking this class I had never taken part in a service learning project so this is new to me. When I learned that we would be doing a service learning project with Tones I was pretty excited because I viewed it as a new learning experience that would most likely prove beneficial to my major, though I really didn’t know what to expect. I am more of a “hands on” learner anyways so this project is perfect for me. I already had a fair amount of knowledge about worksite health promotion but it was nothing in comparison to what I have learned in the class thus far. I was amazed to see the lack of interest and funding for the Tones worksite health promotion programs because of the benefits such programs can yield. I was unaware that it was a difficult product to sell, but I have learned that not everyone is as interested or educated in having a program that will possibly cause money loss in its first few years. Overall this class has reinforced what I already knew and provided an opportunity for me to expand on this knowledge and learn what it takes to have a successful program.

Going into the project I was uncertain of which group I wanted to be in. I already had some web design experience so I figured that was a suitable group to join. In producing the site with the other members of the group I have learned a moderate amount. I was not used to using the Dream weaver web design software so that in itself has improved upon previous knowledge. I feel that being able to work with others is something that will carry on to future careers so I am open to all the practice I can get. In working with Tones I hope to get a feel of what to expect when I am done with school and in the “real world”. I also hope to improve on my communication skills and feel that this class is a big help. Using webct to communicate is fairly new to me and definitely a positive experience. This course hasn’t really raised my interests in WHP but has definitely reinforced those interests. I feel this course will make me a more able and confident employee in the future. I know when the course has been completed I will view it as a crucial step in advancement of knowledge of WHP. I believe that this course is essential for anyone in my major.

13. Service Learning Reflection

I was very excited to begin this class because it is a topic I am very interested in. In my future plans I would love to become a wellness coordinator of a large corporation or hospital. Up until this class our major really hasn’t provided us with a background in wellness or worksite health promotion. For some people like me I believe this a huge downfall. I believe that worksite health promotion can benefit everyone. I don’t know why companies wouldn’t want to participate in such a program. Health promotion not only helps people physically but mentally as well. People may not realize all the benefits that wellness and worksite health promotion have to offer them and this is why I am so interested in wanting to teach people as well as help them receive the benefits of this type of programming.

After participating in this class and working with Tones Spices my perceptions really haven’t changed that much. I did realize that it takes some effort to get people involved after a hard day of work. This taught me that this is a skill that I need to work on; I need to be creative and find new ways to get people to want to participate as well as think of new activities for them to participate in. I believe the more experience I have the easier this will be for me to try and be a little more creative. I need to also working on my program planning like I said above, just be a little more creative and maybe ask some people what types of activities they like to participate in. I believe this will be my biggest job challenge in this profession. I really realized after taking this class that this is something I am very passionate about and I really want to get involved in this field. Since I am so passionate about this field I know it is something that I would be good at.

To be successful in this career field I need to develop new ideas and ways to get individuals involved in the programs I will have to offer them. I should also work on ways to convince people or show people how a health promotion program can help improve their quality of life.

Overall this class has taught me a lot about the importance of program planning and implementation. I have also greatly enjoyed the hands on experience that we as a class are getting from the Tones Spices service - learning project. I wish there were more classes that focused on wellness or worksite health promotion.

14. Service Learning Reflection

My pre-class perception was that worksite health promotion would be accepted a lot better than it has been at Tone’s. I thought that people would be much more excited to have the opportunity to learn and exercise with knowledgeable and willing students than they are. We have not had the response with the health risk appraisals that I thought we would have. I will be interested to see how many people participate in the Lunch and Learns and personal training sessions. I now see that motivation is a much larger part of worksite health promotion that I originally thought. It is the most important part because without people motivated to participate, there is no one to work with in the other programs.

I have learned that I am much more interested in worksite health promotion that I originally thought. Having the opportunity to work with people and educate them on their health has excited and motivated me to learn more. If this was my career I know that I would be excited to go to work everyday and would put a lot of effort into the health of my fellow employees. I have also learned that I am a leader when it comes to working in groups. I already knew this from being a captain on my cheer squad, but wasn’t sure if I would continue to be when it came to health promotion and my group. I am also very organized and like to make sure that everything is going to get done and to the best of our ability. This proves to me that in my future job, I will be always striving to do the best I can.

To be successful in my future career I need to continue to learn about my field of study. The more I know, the more useful I will be to my future employer. I also need to learn how to trust others team members to get the job done as I would. I have a habit of wanting to take over and do everything so that it is done my way. Motivating people is also something I need to continue to learn about. This is something I will use no matter what field I go into.

15. Service Learning Reflection

The service learning project with Tones has been a continuing experience for HS 380. The experience that we gain from volunteering our time and effort there is supposed to be valuable to getting real world experience for worksite health promotion. We have been working on this project from the starting date of the class, and will continue working on it until the semester is over. Our goal is not only to gain experience in worksite health promotion, but also to help those at Tones feel as passionate about health and wellness as we do (basically what worksite health promotion is about).

When I first heard that we would be volunteering at Tones Spices in Ankeny I was very excited to gain a lot of experience that it would provide. We got options for different jobs that we could do, and there were quite a few that seemed like they would be enjoyable to me. Unfortunately I did not have time to do some of them that I would have liked, so I chose to do Fitness Assessments. This decision was ok with me, although I wish that the time commitment could be better worked so it would be easier to do the jobs that I would have liked. But this in a sense also provided me with some insight about what a time commitment this job would have. It is important that you put enough time and effort into these projects so that the employees you are working with can feel as though you really care and want to improve their life.

Once we began working on the service learning and doing more hands on activities I felt as though it was very disorganized. I wanted to be able to do as much as possible for these people, but it did not seem like it was going to come together. Eventually the news group got a paper put out, and presentations were done during class so the rest of the groups could communicate a little bit better. Once communication between us was better, I felt that we were able to communicate with the workers and Tones. This felt good, to be able to try and help them out and help their wellness status. And still today it feels good that we can use our knowledge from class and from previous classes to help those at Tones become more aware of their health and how to improve it.

I do feel like I am pretty experienced right now, but obviously have a lot more experience to gain. The time that I am putting in this project is helping to gain that experience and will help for any job I may have in the future. There is a lot of work to be put in a project like this, and it is then that I realize that it takes a strong team to make something like this work. Not only do I need skills, but all of those who I am working with will need them also.

The work that we have done with Tones has been good so far. I have learned that a lot of time and effort goes into this job, and it takes a strong team to make these projects work. Knowledge of your subject matter is very important, and the ability to research is also important. But I think the most important thing that I have learned is just how important communication is. Without it the team could not make the project work. So far the project has gone well, and I look forward to seeing what else I can learn from it.

16. Service Learning Activity

My involvement in the service learning activity with Tones has been a positive one. I am working with group three, the web group, and learning a lot. Before getting involved with this project, I really did not know what to expect. I originally thought that you advertise health benefits to your workers and that they should follow the guidelines on what is given to them. Health promotion is a lot more complicated than just advertising, and workers do not always participate even though the benefits are out there.

In working with group three, the web group, I have learned to use “Dream Weaver”. This program, I was not familiar with at first, is very easy to learn once I started “playing around” with it. The website is for Tones employees to access. They can look on the website and read about what is happening with health/wellness industry and benefits and programs the site provides. Tones employees can login and do a self assessment on there life behaviors. The website also provides information on health risk appraisals; lighten up Iowa, newsletters, etc. Knowing how to build my own website, and especially understanding what to look for in source code will look good on my resume. Employers really like to see advanced education and understanding something like building a website demonstrates those skills.

In understanding how to motivate people into exercising is a difficult task in itself. Just telling people the risks and benefits (lowering health care costs, boosting self-esteem, etc.) alone does not really motivate people to exercise. But it is a good place to start, to get them thinking about their own health and maybe the Tones employees will act upon those thoughts of improving their own health. Once they start contemplating getting started is where the motivation of a trainer or employer will help them push forward with the right decision in getting healthier.

Knowing how to motivate people personally will be huge in my line of work. Because I want to be a personal trainer and beyond, knowing what makes people come back to workout and get healthy is “key” in my line of work. Having “people” skills will also be big, being able to communicate effectively with a wide range of individuals will help out in being a personal trainer. The computer skills that I have learned at University of Iowa and also in this class, working with “Dream Weaver”, for websites is going to help me in my line of work. Things that I need to learn more about is what exactly motivates people to come back to get healthier, because it is usually different for each individual. Overall this class has been excellent in understanding people’s thoughts into exercise and health. I hope to learn more from this class in the coming weeks.

17. Service Learning Reflection

When starting this class I didn’t really know what to expect. I had heard about what went on in the semester before and there were a lot of mixed thoughts about this class. When I got to this class I had not really ever thought about health promotion in the workplace because none of the places that I have worked at had promoted health and exercise. I knew that there were bigger companies that really pushed hard for their employees to exercise and be happy at their job. I had heard on the news that company so and so was competing with other companies to lower health care costs and that there were incentives for employees that lowered health care costs. I had never been in a large company setting like Tones so it was good to see how people interact with each other and see how things were run. When going to Tones I didn’t really know what to expect. I was waiting for it to be like what you see on the movies that everyone got along or the worse case that people were in dark areas and secluded. When we got our tour of Tones I was stunned to see how many people looked like they were bored or depressed. I heard in one group that one of the workers told them to stay in school, which meant that they wish they had stayed in school and were not happy. It also seemed to me that the only reasons some people were there was because they HAD to be there because they had bills to pay. After leaving Tones I realized that exercise or education about exercise might help some of these people to enjoy work more and feel better about them selves. I thought that there needed to be more interaction between the office workers and the other employees. While getting our tour, Kara did say hi to all the employees and she knew most of them by name. I found that great on her part and you could see that it made the workers feel good that she cared.

I feel that my job for this project in the personal training group is to help educate the employees of new fun activates that they can do at work to make it easier on their bodies and also give them a break away from the factory work for say an hour or 30 min. I also want to show these employees that they can have fun while exercising and they can also exercise with a friend, which will help them meet new people and also maybe get office and factory workers more in tune with each other. (Watch run-ons).I think that from the previous semester the biggest thing that I heard was that it was rough because it was the first semester that this had started and it wasn’t organized. I think starting out earlier this semester gave us more time to get stuff planned and out in the factory for the workers to see, and it also gave us more time to help educate the ones that want to learn. This activity so far has been a good eye opener for me to see how difficult it is to get people motivated about exercise and wanting to learn how to make their lives better. It has taught me different strategies to try to get people to want to come to try out something new like the core strength training session that we are putting on. We have put up flyers, and gave incentives to those who get so many points etc. to get people in to try new things. As a personal trainer, it has made me realize that there are many places like Tones that need people like us to intervene and help these people look at their current way of life, learn how to change it, why they should change it and how to maintain this new lifestyle to live a longer and more healthy life. I feel with this experience it will give me more tools to success in my future.

18. Service Learning Reflection

My initial reactions and observations from my involvement with the Service Learning project with Tones was that this was really a beginning project and we would have to come up with a lot of ideas to really make this better for Tones and their employees. I had heard that this had been started with Tones only the semester before, so I knew that it was in the beginning stages. After talking about it in class I learned that not much had really been started. The website needed to be started and we also needed a logo and name for this project. When I thought about worksite health promotion I knew a lot went into it but I did not realize the extent of what needed to be done to keep a program up and going. After learning about all that goes into worksite health promotion I have gotten more and more interested in this line of work. I have learned that it is even more important to keep employees informed of health behaviors and new ways to take part in exercise and living a healthier life.

From working on this project I have learned that it takes a lot of work to keep a worksite health program going. It is important to have new and fun ideas to keep employees interested in the program and excited to continue. I have been working on the lunch and learns and I have noticed that people are interested in learning more about exercising and how healthy behaviors can help with how they feel now and how they will feel in the future. Since working on this program I have discovered that people know they need to be healthy and that they need to exercise but they just need to get excited about it. When they know it in the back of their head nothing really happens but when programs and interesting facts are thrown their way they realize they need to be doing these healthy behaviors and this helps them to get excited about doing them.

I feel that this program has really come a long way since we started. We now have a name and really neat logo for the Tones program, we also have a website that is really coming along. The news letter and lunch and learns are really targeted to the Tones employees and their health needs and I am sure that the personal trainers are coming up with new and interesting ways to teach and show exercises. This Service Learning Project is really starting to become a good worksite health promotion team.

I really think that this project has helped me and will help me in my future careers. I have learned the different areas that need to be covered when setting up worksite health promotion. It is also very important to keep up to date with new and excited information in the health field and what people should and should not do. This class has helped me to think more about my health behaviors and exercise patterns. It has also helped me in realizing what I would like to do after graduation. I feel that is program was very beneficial to me and will really help me in my future.

19. Service Learning Reflection

When I signed up for this class, I had no idea that we would be working with an actual company to implement a worksite health promotion program. When you announced the Service Learning Activity with Tones to the class, I became extremely excited to know that we could be helping “real” people. Even though I didn’t know completely what a worksite health promotion program consisted of, I had envisioned personal trainers, helpful newsletters, and motivated employees.

Now that we are well into our program, I have learned that there are several other aspects that make up a great program. I wasn’t aware of the immense impact insurance benefits could have on upper management’s decision to fund a program like ours, and I had no idea that it could be so difficult to get a large majority of the workers involved in what our program has had to offer. I was also not aware of how important it is to have an evaluative team to deliver the results of the program in order to see the benefits and make improvements. I’m learning how important that feature is to make a beneficial worksite health promotion program.

Being on the media team, I have learned that what I might be interested in learning about is not necessarily what everyone else reading the newsletter needs to learn about or is interested in and vise versa. By figuring this out, I have learned to think outside the box in order to accommodate the employees and their needs, not just my interests. Also, I have learned a great deal about teamwork and how essential it is, especially when working under a deadline. It has definitely been the best school project I have ever had emphasizing teamwork. I think my skills of effective communication and leadership have shown through but have also been enhanced.

Having deadlines, working with computers and coworkers, being a leader, and having effective communication will all be valuable to my future job. Right now I am looking into working for a non-profit organization such as the American Cancer Society. Through this service learning project I have also become interesting in pursuing a career in corporate wellness program and this has given me a wonderful idea of what that setting could consist of.

20. Service Learning Project

Before this class started, my perception about Worksite Health Promotion was that it was something that occurred in big businesses like Tones and that most of the programs just dealt with having access to a fitness facility either onsite at work or other gyms. Basically I felt that the programs and worksite fitness facilities were put in place to only meet the Healthy People 2000 goals and there wasn’t a lot of science behind getting the employees to actually use the facilities and programs.

After starting the class, I realize that some of my perceptions are partially true. I think there was a huge rush to make these worksite health facilities but as I read the book I see that there hasn’t been a lot of research or sound studies done in many areas of this field. It is a relatively new concept and I think as more studies are done and as more people in Health and Human performance get behind the idea, the more it is going to become accepted in the health and working community. I now see that a lot of work goes into implementing programs. There is a lot of psychology, marketing, and health sciences involved to try and get people interested in the program.

Through this experience I have learned a lot about my interests and abilities. I originally wanted to be in the media group because I thought it would be a lot of fun to make posters and try to promote the program. I ended up in the evaluation group and I have been able to do a little bit of everything. I was able to make posters for the kickoff, work with the web team and newsletter group to come up with a section about the HAT for the website and newsletter, and modify and organize the HAT. It’s nice because I can be involved in those activities that most interest me but I can also learn a lot about other aspects too. It’s great to be part of the evaluation team because I love organizing the HAT and I look forward to evaluating it in the future. It will be a great experience to problem solve at the end of the program to see what aspects worked and what we can change or suggest changing for future classes. I have found that I am a good communicator with my group. We are all good at coming to an agreement about what should be done. We are able to share ideas and offer constructive criticism to make the best possible choice for the program.

I found it very difficult at first to work on this project mainly because I didn’t feel in control of the situation. The task seemed so overwhelming that I didn’t think there was any possible way to get anything accomplished. I have learned a great deal about organization, deadlines, and pulling my own weight for my group. These are skills that will be greatly helpful in my future career. Chances are I will be working with many people and I can not have the attitude that I can do it all on my own. It is extremely important that you trust your co-workers and that you are able to rely on them to help you do your job and vice versa. I have seen how important it is to stay connected with my group through email, webCT, and discussing in class. To me this is a great experience because we have final deadlines, but it is the group and my responsibility to get things done. No one is going to do anything for you and this has helped me to gain confidence and independence in my ability to successfully complete tasks. More than any other class, this project has allowed me to practice skills that will transfer over into any job that I might choose to do.

The evaluation group has and will have the difficult task of reviewing the HAT which is new to the worksite health program at Tones. I like the fact that we are able to modify it and monitor it to see what works. I like the idea that we are establishing something solid that may be used in this program for years to come.

21. Service Learning Reflection

Before we started the Tones’ Spices activity, I did not know a whole lot about worksite health promotion. I was not exactly sure why it was so important for companies or workplaces to have some type of health promotion program. I thought it basically consisted of having a health facility in the workplace and maybe handing out “good health” pamphlets from time to time. I have now realized through this activity that worksite health promotion is quite a bit more proactive than my presumptions. I have learned that having a worksite health promotion program in advantageous in multiples ways. It not only increases the health and fitness level of the individuals but also increases productivity, morale, and profit for the company as a whole. Being the worksite health promoters at Tones, I can now see that worksite health promotion is very multidimensional. Health promotion programs have to educate employees, have available and accessible facilities plus persuade employees to use them, increase productivity, stay within a budget, and gain support from different levels of management all at the same time.

Through the Tones’ activity, I have learned that worksite health promotion is very challenging. With the Tones’ situation, it was very obvious at the kickoff event that getting the factory portion of the company was going to be much more difficult than the office side. There was also a pretty significant difference in the number of male and female interest. It is very difficult to get people interested in taking the appropriate steps toward a healthy lifestyle. Changing their way of thinking about health is hard enough but actually getting them to be involved is like pulling teeth.

Thus, I have realized the extreme importance of incentives. Incentives will at least get employees to maybe take a second glance. During the kickoff event, many of the employees were anxious to get their pedometers. They also enjoyed getting the little water bottle gift for filling out the survey. When talking the employees at Tones, they said it was a lot easier to get involved with something if they were somehow externally rewarded for it. Even though it does help, I am realizing that the incentives if not “large” enough hardly affect the people who are in the pre-contemplation stage (like many of the factory workers).

Another thing I have noticed through this service learning project is the importance of exposure. Employees cannot be involved with a program if they do not know that it exists. I think it is important to have many channels of communication to the employees like we are doing through the website, newsletter, lunch-n-learns, and Kara. I heard many employees say they never hear about any of the activities that are going on. Through this project and the class text, I have realized the tactic of repeated exposure is essential in getting people to move from pre-contemplation to contemplation.

I feel I have gained a number of skills through this service learning project. I have learned how to use incentives in a program, how to deal with individuals in different stages of the behavior change model, how to complete and use a health risk appraisal, and how to use communication skills in specific populations. One of the main skills the project has taught me thus far, however, is computer skills. I am in group 1, the print media group, so I have learned how to format a newsletter, how to use graphics such as clip art, how to summarize articles in a way my audience will understand, and how to prioritize what needs to be included each month.

What I need to learn for my future job will probably be a little more medically based. I am going to get my nursing degree, thus I will need to learn a lot more about physical assessments and pathophysiology. However, I will still need to learn many public health issues and the basis of good health and fitness.

22. Service Learning Reflection 1

My initial reaction when told about the service learning activity with Tones was not very enthusiastic, I didn’t really know how it would go actually applying the things that we were learning to a real life situation. As we became more involved, took the tour at Tones and saw how our work would effect people and help the company, I became much more optomistic. Before this class, I had absoluetly no experience with worksite health promotion and had never really thought about how the things we do in health studies improves company morale as well as people’s own well-being. The more we do with this service learning project, the more I learn how valuable a program like this can be. My perceptions have changed a great deal from the beginning of the program until now and I’m sure will continue to change as we continue to be more involved with Tones.

Although our group (web design) doesn’t deal directly with Tone’s employees, I still find it very interesting to see how people are reaching out to the employees, what gets them involved, motivates them, and how they are bettering themselves using this new knowledge we are giving them. I haven’t learned a great deal about my skills dealing with webdesign, as I do this for a job, but I have learned a great deal about how skills and concepts I have learned throughout my time at Iowa State can be applied to real life situations, especially in the workplace. I plan on going into Occupational Therapy, and although it won’t deal directly with worksite health promotion on a level that we are with Tones, I have learned a lot about interactions with these types of people and what I can use to help then in the future. As well as helping me in my future, my dad owns a company and I’ve actually discussed some of the issues we have covered in class with him on improving the health and morale of employees in his company. I think the things I have learned from this activity are very beneficial and can be applied to many areas of my life. I look forward to seeing the progress we are making with the Tone’s employees and continuing to learn how to apply all of these concepts to real life situations.

23. Service Learning Reflection

Before I ever took this class I wasn’t excited about it. I didn’t think that it was anything I would be interested in. I thought that if I was interested in health promotion I would have chosen a major in Community and Public Health. I also wasn’t looking forward to creating a program for Tone’s. I don’t see the skills that are necesssary for that as strength for me. I don’t like giving presentations, talking to groups, and I am not a creative person at all.

After getting started on this program, my views definitely changed. I wanted to go into cardiac rehab and help people who have already been diagnosed with heart disease and high risk patients, and help them change their ways. Now I feel that it would be a lot more beneficial to help prevent these things from happening rather than wait until it’s too late. I know many people in that position and it’s very hard to change someone especially if they have been that way their whole life. I am excited to try new things at Tone’s and see what we can do for them. I have a lot more confidence in my knowledge and presentation of health promotion and topics. It’s also made me a lot more aware of my personal lifestyle and that fact that I don’t do what I preach. I actually have started to change already in some aspects of my health, and working on this project has made me more aware of these things. After working on this project, I have started to think about what I really want to do for a career. This might just be something I could possibly enjoy and be good at. In order to be successful at it, I need to work on my ability to be confident in the knowledge that I have. I need to realize that I know what I am doing.

24. Service Learning Project Reflection: Group 8

Before this class started, I was not really sure what this class was going to be about. I honestly did not know what worksite health promotion was and that it even existed. I heard from some of the students of previous classes that we were going to work with the Tones Spices factory in Ankeny, but I did not really know why. I think that going to the factory, lecture, and participating in the service learning project has helped me learn a lot about myself and how I can use this worksite health promotion information in a future career.

Going on a tour of Tones Spices helped me gain a feeling of what it is like to work in that factory. Personally, I know that I would not like to work there everyday. The job seemed kind of stressful, and the smell of the factory was so strong that I got a headache from being in there for less than an hour. I am glad that I had the opportunity to walk around the factory, because it helped me gain an understanding of how worksite health promotion could be extremely helpful to all workers; but in particular, to the workers at Tones Spices. I think it made it easier to come up with ideas and programs that we could implement at that factory when we could see what their working conditions were actually like.

I think the in-class lectures have helped me gain more of an understanding on what worksite health promotion is and why it is important, but I think that if I was not involved in this service learning project at Tones Spices that I would not really care about worksite health promotion at all. Knowing that I am involved in a project that is affecting people in real life is a real eye opener. These workers are counting on us to make them aware of programs and to keep track of their progress.

I think that in whatever career I choose to pursue in the future that being involved in this service learning project at Tones Spices will allow me to be more effective at helping people understand wellness and to help them understand how they can better their own health through lifestyle change. I am thinking about going into personal training, so being able to help people improve their overall health and not just fitness would most likely be more beneficial to the clients that I am working with because then they can apply these concepts to all aspects of their lifestyle.

I have definitely learned that a lot of hard work and communication go into organizing a worksite health promotion program. I have learned through this project that I need to speak up more to have my ideas heard, that I am a better leader than I thought I was, that I am more dependable than others in my group, and that I can not really count on everyone else in my group to do their part because not everyone takes the project as seriously as I do. Because there are people in my group that do not show up very often (not only to class, but also to Tones Spices), I feel like I have taken more of a leadership role in my group. This is not necessarily a bad thing, because it has made me more confident in my abilities to get things done and done right.