Monroe High School student athletes learn about sports and nutrition from RIT Athletics and the Wegmans School of Health and Nutrition

RIT Athletics and the Wegmans School of Health and Nutrition partnered with Monroe High School in the Rochester City School District to bring student athletes to campus earlier this semester for hands-on learning about sports and nutrition.

The RIT Sports and Nutrition Camp brought together RIT faculty, staff, and students to teach the visiting students about the importance of exercise and nutrition for athletes and for anyone seeking to achieve health and fitness.

The sports and nutrition camp is the brainchild of Rob Grow ’88 (business), RIT baseball head coach, to improve the health and well-being of students in the Rochester City School District. He developed the idea with Ray Smith, RIT assistant basketball coach and guidance counselor at Monroe High School. Grow reached out to Bill Brewer, director of exercise science, and formed a partnership with the Wegmans School. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed their plans for the workshop until recently.

“The high school students were engaged the entire time during the RIT Sports and Nutrition Camp,” Grow said. “They left the workshop with new information and experiences that they can think about and put into practice. This was our pilot workshop—we had never done this before—and now we can build on it for the next one. Our goal is to reach and inspire more high school students.”

RIT Athletics Executive Director Jacqueline Nicholson welcomed the group of 20 students and kicked off the half-day workshop. Brewer talked about making exercise a life-long habit. Liz Kmiecinski, associate professor of nutrition, and undergraduate Maddy Degenfelder, a nutritional sciences major, focused on nutrition for enhancing athletic performance. Grow and Ryan Kelly, RIT head strength and conditioning coach, focused on speed and agility. RIT student athletes assisted them during a session on flexibility and strength training in the Clark Gym. Grow’s team also included Olivia Winkfield, RIT assistant director of athletics for compliance and student welfare.

The RIT Sports and Nutrition Camp is another example of synergy between the Wegmans School of Health and Nutrition and RIT Athletics, said Barbara Lohse, head of the Wegmans School of Health and Nutrition in the College of Health Sciences and Technology.

“The relationship between RIT Athletics and the Wegmans School of Health and Nutrition benefits young athletes in the region, in addition to RIT students,” Lohse said.