Body of knowledge
Sports Medicine program spurs interest in health sciences
Science Department Co-Chair Lydia Arguelles, who pioneered Mayfield’s Sports Medicine program in 2014, introduced a popular Anatomy & Physiology course this year.
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n the evening of Nov. 30, 2020, Science Department Co-Chair Lydia Arguelles was sitting in an emergency room, her foot throbbing. X-rays confirmed what she already suspected: She had fractured her foot. She had played competitive team sports over the years, but this injury was caused by a less-than-active opponent—the corner of her bed. She could only chuckle. Her Sports Medicine class was starting a unit on the foot the next day, so she decided to bring in her own x-rays to see how sharp her students’ diagnostic skills were. Spoiler alert: They aced that test. And now, at the end of the school year, that class knows a lot about feet. “It’s really cool to be able to put a name to all the bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments that comprise something even as small as the little toe,” says Sarah Tupy ’21. How unusual is it to have a sports medicine class in high school? Depends on what type of high school it is.
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“St. Francis has a huge sports medicine program,” says Ms. Arguelles. But six years ago, when she established her class, “none of the all-girls Catholic schools had a sports medicine program.” Ms. Arguelles came to Mayfield in 2009 as a part-time athletic trainer through a local physical therapy practice. Teaching a Sports Medicine class came entirely organically out of student interest, after then-student Gabriella Ciulla ’15 approached Ms. Arguelles for help with her sports training and became fascinated with the equipment (How do you use ultrasound machines?) and the job (Can you study this in college?). Six years after Gabriella successfully lobbied the Mayfield administration to add Sports Medicine as an official course, she is now a certified athletic trainer and is pursuing a graduate degree in the field at West Virginia University. It turned out Gabriella wasn’t the only student who was curious about this health science discipline. That first year,
there were four full Sports Medicine classes, and Ms. Arguelles’ courses continue to attract a devoted following. “This is by far one of my favorite classes ever!” says Sarah. As a studentathlete, Sarah is also gaining some beyond-the-classroom knowledge during this course. “It’s rare for me to not be injured at any given moment,” she says. “With this in mind, I have taken the lessons from class with me to the orthopedist, and I can now clearly see the intention behind his every note, palpation, and question regarding my injury. This is the type of real-world application that the class prepares us for, and it’s truly eye-opening to see what I’ve learned play out in a professional setting.” Like several students before her, Sarah is taking this course with a very direct goal in mind. “For as long as I can remember, my dream job has been to become an orthopedic surgeon,” she says. “With my long history of sports injuries, this passion has only strengthened.”
“I always want them to feel like they were a part of the class, that they contributed to something, that they felt heard as a student... Ultimately, I really want them to enjoy learning.” — LYDIA ARGUELLES, SPORTS MEDICINE TEACHER
In the 2020-21 school year, there are still two full classes of Sports Medicine, and Ms. Arguelles has also started teaching a popular Anatomy & Physiology class. “I thought when creating my Anatomy class that it was going to kill my Sports Medicine class,” says Ms. Arguelles, laughing at how wrong she was. Several of her current Sports Medicine students took her Anatomy class last year, and one of her
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