Careers in HHP
The Health & Human Performance Department offers concentrations in Teaching, Sports Medicine, Wellness/Health Promotion, and a General degree designed to be flexible enough to be tailored to the student’s interests. Because the Health and Human Performance Major is within the context of a liberal arts education, a student acquires a broad education which prepares him or her to create a future which best utilizes his or her particular combination of physical, intellectual, and emotional interests and abilities.
Certifications are offered in Teaching, First Aid, CPR, and Water Safety Instruction. Certain courses, such as Scuba Diving, offer other specific certifications.
A student with a major in Health and Human Performance is prepared to pursue a variety of career options, including:
- Teachers of children from Primary grades through High School
- Physical therapists
- Athletic Trainers
- Recreation Directors
- Personal Trainers
- Wellness Promotion Professionals
- Youth Group Director
In addition, the student with a Health and Human Performance major from Berea College is academically prepared to attend graduate school in Physical Therapy, Sports Medicine, and other fields. Adding the Health Minor or Dance Minor further broadens the student’s options for a career or continued study.
As a Health and Human Performance major, you will:
- Learn skills in a variety of sports, games, dance, swimming, and outdoor pursuits for your own enjoyment and to share with others in many ways
- Develop leadership, organization, and communication skills which will serve you in any interaction with others, in your career or in recreation
- Come to understand the science of the body and how the body works, especially the musculoskeletal system, the nervous system, the respiratory system – and the cardiovascular system – and you will learn how to apply this knowledge to improve sports or dance skills, to repair injury, or to make appropriate exercise and nutrition decisions
- Understand and apply principles of healthy living, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, socially, and environmentally, and learn how to share this knowledge in many settings
- Appreciate the breadth and depth of the health and human performance field, its history and future trends, and discover your place in the field
Why Study Health and Human Performance?
The purpose of the curriculum of the Health and Human Performance Department is to provide a challenging curriculum leading to the development of abilities and convictions in a student’s field of concentration. The Department promotes in the health and human performance student the desire to fully develop the ability to utilize constructively all of his/her potential capacities for movement and movement education. Training and experiences that will enhance their skills in communication, in creative self-expression, in critical reflection, in research, and in leadership are provided in the classroom and in an activity setting.
Explore potential career paths in HHP (pdf)
Career Examples
- Chiropractor
- Physical Therapist
- Occupational Therapist
- Athletic Trainer
- Physical Education Teacher
- Fitness Specialist–Personal Trainer, Fitness Director
- Recreation Worker
- Dance Medicine and Science
- Geriatric Fitness Specialist
- Gerontology
- Athletic Coach
- Dance Educator
- Exercise Science / Sports Medicine
- Sports Management
- Sports Medicine
- Health Educator
- Community health educator
- Health coach
- Worksite wellness worker
- Health promotion program planner
- Behavioral health specialist
Professional Organizations
- American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD)
- National Dance Association (NDA)
- National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA)
- North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA)
- The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM)
- American School Health Association (ASHA)
- National Recreation and Parks Association (NRPA)
- National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA)
- America’s Authority on Fitness
- American College of Sports Medicine
- Aquatic Exercise Association
- Aquatic and Fitness Professional Association International
- IFPA Fitness
- NSCA Certification
- ASEP – American Sport Education Program
- WHO – World Health Organization
- CDC – Centers for Disease Control
- APHA – American Public Health Association
- ASHA – American School Health Association
- SOPHE – Society for Public Health Education
- NCHE– National Center for Health Education
- AHA – American Heart Association
- ALA – American Lung Association
- ARC – American Red Cross
- National Dance Education Organization
This information was collected by Iris Bahr-Winslow, Jennifer Breneman, Allen Brooks, Emily Schneider, Candy Walls, and Ebony Williams.