Massage Therapy Program Approved by State to Extend Curriculum Hours
“No other massage program in this region offers this amount of training. What this means for students is that they will have an advantage in skills and knowledge. In addition, an extended internship allows for more ‘real world’ training, which prepares students to meet the challenges that massage therapists face with more chances of success,” says Massage Therapy Program Director, Victor Terrazas.
“I think this is so great!,” says Yolanda Blanco, a Massage Therapy graduate from 2009 who has been working busily at Body Creations, Inc. since January. She understands that increasing the hours of the curriculum will really help allow for more advanced study in the areas of anatomy and physiology. From the standpoint of being a recent graduate who did not get those additional hours, Blanco says, “ I felt like I needed just a little bit more time to practice. Personally, I thought I could take more information in, but the extended hours were not in place at that time.”
With the extension of curriculum hours, students will get more practice as an additional 70 hours were added on to the 50 that were already in place. The more time a student has time to practice hands on in a supervised 'real world’ setting, the better skills they develop. With the help of instructors, they learn and instantly apply skills that a shorter internship cannot provide,” Terrazas says. Through the previous and extended curriculum, students are even learning the skills that are needed for starting their own businesses and working in professional clinical settings, as well as Spa and Wellness centers. “The extension of the curriculum hours is giving our graduates the edge needed to succeed by allowing extra practice with real clients.”
Dolores Fraire agrees with Terrazas. She is a graduate of WTC and has owned Body Creations, Inc. located on East Wyoming Avenue in El Paso for seven years now. She says the extended curriculum hours allow for students to learn more than the grandfather rule that only allowed for only 300 hours of training. Fraire says, “I have seen a tremendous growth in graduates that have more classroom and clinic time.” With even more hours, she says, “It will provide a better future for them, as nothing is the same when you actually put what you learn to practice.” As an employer, Fraire feels confident that WTC is a stable college with a history in the community and can count on them. “I will only hire graduates of WTC.”
How else will the added hours to the curriculum be beneficial? Terrazas adds, “This will also help students coming from New Mexico to meet their state's requirements for licensure.” In addition, students who have trained at WTC in the past can come back for more training. Another plus is that now even more people interested in getting a massage for a minimal fee can call and sign up during the clinics that are offered throughout the year.