Arley Johnson | Student

Where Passion Meets Opportunity

Since she was in high school, Arley Johnson ’26 has been intrigued by athletic training. As a track and cross country athlete, she spent plenty of time in the training room, observing the treatment of sore muscles and ailing joints. When she suffered a stress fracture during her junior year, she experienced first-hand how trainers can facilitate rehabilitation and recovery. She even took a sports medicine class as a senior that gave her a front-row seat to what the job demands. Needless to say, it wasn’t a tough decision to land on a major once she got to DePauw.

“I knew very quickly what I wanted to get into,” says Johnson. “When I started taking other classes during my first year, none of them were as interesting to me as kinesiology.”

In choosing kinesiology, Johnson found more than a field of study that interests her. She found a community of scholars, educators and mentors committed to her success.

“The entire kinesiology department is honestly amazing,” she says. “All of the professors have uniquely different teaching strategies, so each class looks different. But they are all very supportive, and they’re always there when you need to ask a question or just go in and talk.”

Johnson’s education hasn’t been limited to the classroom. In addition to working as a football team manager for all four years, she’s also enjoyed two internships during her time at DePauw — one with the Indiana Pacers and another with the Chicago Bulls. These experiences with professional sports organizations have given her a glimpse into the future she’s pursuing.

“I was able to learn about all the different areas that go into helping the players,” she says. “They have the strength trainers, the nutritionists, the physical therapists, the athletic trainers, the surgeons. It was so interesting to learn about the whole thing and how they all work together.”

During Johnson’s month-long winter term internship with the Bulls, she completed homework assignments, she worked alongside the training staff, and she even got to be on heating pad duty for the players during home games. The entire experience is recorded in an 18-page daily journal that stands as a record of a truly transformative educational experience.

“I’m the kind of learner who needs to be either watching something happen or doing it personally,” says Johnson. “The internships helped take what I had been learning in lectures and showed me what it was like to actually do it. It definitely made it more interesting for me.”