My site was the Lift For Life Gym, a gym focused on giving at-risk Saint Louis youth a chance to live a healthy life. The youth at the gym are children (ranging from ages 5-8) to teenagers of 15 and up. At the location I helped the children engage in various exercises, both for muscle growth and cardio. Research literature and my personal observations suggest that fitness helps children to flourish both physically and mentally. Research indicated that physical fitness improves mental health and decreases mental health issues. In addition the children in the gym certainly leave the gym happier than when they arrive, and some show excitement to begin exercising. I think the most important thing to take away from this is that fitness improves one's life in many ways. One doesn’t have to exercise to be a bodybuilder, any small bit can help.

Professor Kuebli was influential to me for a few reasons. She really helped guide the class on how to structure a good poster, and a good project. All semester we slowly built the project instead of working on it for only a couple weeks, and that really helped. Also, she really instilled a lot of great values into the course that helped me view my experiences from a better perspective. Being open, patient, and positive were the things I learned from her and this project. I also felt secure because I knew that if I had any troubles she'd be there to help me.