Castleton athletic training students show off their taping skills to Norwich athletic training students at the second annual Vermont Student Athletic Training Symposium. Photo by Mike Buonocore. 

On Dec. 3, athletic training students from Castleton, the University of Vermont, and Norwich gathered for the second annual Vermont Student Athletic Training Symposium.

Last year, this same event was hosted by UVM and members of their student athletic training program organized it. This year, the event came south to Castleton, and our athletic training students took the lead.

Activities throughout the day included a hands-on lab, interactive interviewing tips, and even a modified version of Family Feud.  

“Last year it was hosted at UVM, so we kind of based it off of that,” said senior athletic training student Kate Steller. “We emailed a bunch of speakers that we thought would be interesting for our symposium, so we had Kelly Cray and Matt Cutts from Middlebury at our event, and they came to talk about their taping techniques. We also had Tim Weston who is the NATA (National Athletic Trainers Association) District 1 director.”

This was an intricate event to host, and the students had worked hard to orchestrate it for months.

“The student planning committee had their first brainstorming session before school started in August. We have been meeting weekly since then. They have done an awesome job,” said Athletic Training Coordinator of Clinical Education, Rebekah Peterson. “Planning and hosting a professional event gives the students a valuable opportunity to see what goes in to such an event.”   

The Castleton students took some time thinking about how to get the students from the other two schools to chat with each other in a creative way.

“To mix it up, the students were given name tags with different colors on them and that color determined which table they sat at,” Steller said.

Both Peterson and Steller are ecstatic with how the event panned out, adding that this is the first time Castleton has hosted it.

“I am impressed at the commitment the students made from day one through the day of the event and at how well the students communicated with all parties involved. From the beginning the students wanted a program that allowed for interaction,” Peterson said. “The students should be proud of what they accomplished.”

Steller said she is proud – and relieved – that the students were able to put on such a smooth flowing event not only for themselves but also the students of UVM and Norwich.

“We had a set schedule and everything went the right amount of time, so we didn’t go over or run late or anything,” said Steller. “It couldn’t have gone more perfect.”

Other Castleton Athletic training members helping with the event include Athletic Training Program Director, Reese Boucher, and students Kelley Meyer, Brittany Verg, Andy Meister, Bethany Fitzgerald, Christian McMillan and Christine McSweeny.