This March will mark the annual National Athletic Trainer Appreciation Month. Run by the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA), the month serves to appreciate and educate the public about the country’s athletic trainers and all they do for their schools.

Athletic Trainer Lauren Kijewski has a similar definition of what the recognition month strives to do.

“[The month is] set up to recognize what Athletic trainers do. Not a lot of people know what athletic trainers do, and not a lot of people know that we are stationed in a school or help with preventative care,” Kijewski said.

As an athletic trainer, Kijewski does many of the things one would expect an athletic trainer would do at a school.

“I treat and evaluate injuries. I help with preventative care. Basically, an athlete comes in with an injury, I then assess them and help them get back to their full strength. I hopefully speed up the recovery process,” Kijewski said.

However, there are many parts of the job people are unaware of.

“We get mixed up a lot with physical therapists. We do a lot of similar things in the training room as physical therapists do in a clinic. So sometimes, maybe people aren’t aware that we actually do rehabilitation in our own setting,” Kijewski said. “We also get excited for games just like athletes do.”

The job is also not easy.

“The hardest part is when you get stumped. Athletic trainers are seen [as] having all of the answers, but sometimes we don’t… [It’s hard]  to stay positive even when you don’t know all the answers… [and then] telling an athlete that you don’t know the answer,” Kijewski said.

However, Kijewski loves her job. The best part her job is interacting and connecting with the students.

“I like working with the kids. I love talking with [them] and hearing about their days…They always come in and keep you laughing,” Kijewski said.

[In Print] This story is reprinted from The Rubicon print edition: Mar 6, 2018.