Happy New Year!

Chinese students in EVIT's adult Massage Therapy program are celebrating the Chinese New Year today!

The 14 students all are permanent residents of the U.S. and speak primarily Mandarin. They are learning anatomy, physiology and various massage techniques, as well as enough English to be able to communicate with clients. When they finish the program, they will be licensed massage therapists and they will be ready to start their new career!

But today, they took a break from all the learning to celebrate an important day in the Chinese culture -- New Year's Day! Some students even dressed in traditional celebratory garb:


Sue Gao works with the students, teaching them about the biology of massage therapy, translating for them and teaching them English. She described the Chinese New Year as similar to Christmas in the United States, with lots of festivities, family and food for several days.

Happy New Year!

Adults: It's time to enroll for Massage Therapy

Take the leap. Change careers, learn a new skill or reinvent yourself. It's a great time to do it: EVIT is accepting enrollment into its adult massage therapy program.

The program will run from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Mondays - Fridays, Aug. 16 - June 4 on the EVIT campus. Students will pay competitive tuition rates and will leave the program prepared to take the state licensing test.

Students will learn a variety of massage therapy techniques, including:

• Swedish
• Sports
• Lymphatic
• Acupressure
• Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation
• Thai/Yoga Massage
• Aromatherapy
• Hot Stone Therapy

Sound interesting? Spots are filling up, so reserve yours today by calling (480) 461-4027.

Experiencing yoga in a new way

The massage therapy class welcomed a guest speaker who introduced them to a new way to experience relaxation on Tuesday.

Cindy Rogers is a visually impaired yoga instructor. After speaking to the class for about an hour about her life, she had the students put on blindfolds and led them through some yoga exercises.


The blindfolds allowed the students to focus and rely on their other senses throughout the activity.

Tech Fest is going on at EVIT right now!

Tech Fest has begun! The campus is already buzzing with lots of visitors. Stop by today before 1 p.m. to get in on the fun.

You could dunk a teacher:


Get a massage:


Or check our any of EVIT's nearly 40 amazing programs, like construction and radio broadcasting:

Let EVIT massage students work their magic

Still a little tense from all the holiday shopping, baking and socializing? Perhaps the EVIT massage students can help loosen you up a bit.

The program's public clinic is opening up Jan. 21 and will be open each Thursday and Friday for the entire spring semester in EVIT's Health Sciences Center. Massages are just $5 for each half hour.

Think about that. For just $10, you could get a refreshing, hour-long massage, while also doing a good deed -- helping the students improve their massage and customer service skills!

Make your appointment today by calling (480) 461-4184. Available appointment are: 7:30, 8:40 and 9:50 a.m., and 12:15, 1:30 and 2:45 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays.

The adventures of Fire and Massage, Part 2

Last week, the massage therapy students invited the fire science students over for chair and sports massages.

Today, fire students repaid the favor by teaching the massage students how to repel.



A couple of exceptionally fearless students even repelled upside-down.

Mr. Baugher offers some words of encouragement, mid-repel:

Even teachers Ms. O'Connor and Ms. McBride joined in the fun. Here they are, right after Ms. O'Connor's repelling adventure. Can you sense her relief?

A relaxing assignment

The massage therapy classes got a lot of practice in today -- on the fire fighting students.

Massage students practiced their chair massage and sports massage techniques on the very willing fire students, who exited the room looking much more relaxed than when they entered.


On Friday, fire students will repay the favor by teaching the massage students the finer points of repelling.

Always busy...

EVIT students have been doing all kinds of cool stuff lately.

Earlier this month, the Fire Explorer Post 2611 went to Workman's Creek Falls for a 180-foot rappel:

Massage therapy students practiced their chair massage techniques:

And fashion students took over a couple of stoves in the culinary department so they could dye fabrics with coffee, tea, Kool-Aid, charcoal, turmeric and beets:

Keep up the great work!