Exercise Science and Wellness Student Learns to Shift Gears
Tammy Metzger, Class of 2007
Interviewed Winter 2007
 If you had asked Exercise Science and Wellness student Tammy Metzger a few years ago to run a marathon or hop on a bike and ride a 100 miles, she probably would have looked at you as if you had lost your mind. After studying accounting and spending nearly a decade in a successful and lucrative financial career, Tammy says she had become a "workaholic and a couch potato." The more energy she poured into climbing the corporate ladder of success, the less she felt like climbing onto a treadmill. Her lifestyle had become increasingly sedentary and isolated, and she began feeling disheartened about her work in the cutthroat world of banking.
Tammy says that for several years she did not realize that her life was in a rut and that "there were better ways to live." It took a few incidents such as witnessing a group of salesmen happily taking advantage of a client to realize that she was ready for a change. In her words, "I wanted to give back to my community, not help people take from it."
In an effort to contribute to a worthy cause and expand her social network, on a whim, Tammy attended a meeting for a Leukemia and Lymphoma Society endurance sports training program. Thinking that there was no way she could become a runner, she signed up for bicycle training and discovered that she enjoyed the challenge and the sense of team spirit that cycling offered. She soon completed her first "century" – a 100-mile bike ride – and was hooked. She spent the next four years training regularly with a women's cycling team. But she didn't stop there. She also dove headfirst into triathlon events and even began running, completing her first full marathon last year.
While Tammy had successfully improved her health and wellness and had expanded her circle of friends through her newfound interests, she was still extremely dissatisfied with her career and needed to make a professional change.
One day while sitting in a local café, she overheard some students talking about Bastyr University. "The curriculum sounded fascinating to me!" She went home and did some research on the Internet about Bastyr's programs and decided that the Exercise Science and Wellness program was the right option for her. She had found a degree that would combine her passion for exercise with her desire to help others achieve a sense of health and balance in their lives. "After that, everything just seemed to fall together effortlessly."
At the end of 2005, Tammy left her lucrative job and returned to life as a student again. It was a hard step to take, but she has never regretted the change. "I've adjusted to life as a student and know that wherever I put my energy, success will follow." In addition to her full-time studies at Bastyr, Tammy works as a multi-sport coach at Cycle University in Seattle and is certified as an expert-level cycling coach through USA Cycling.
Tammy's past "corporate" experience came in handy when she assumed a work-study position in the Office of Admissions. In that position, she helped with office projects, answered emails from prospective students, and helped set up advising appointments. "It was great," she said. "I got to know more about Bastyr, and it was a great way for me to feel like more of a part of the process at Bastyr and part of the community. It can be overwhelming at first because it's so new."
Tammy also volunteered at fairs and open houses for the Exercise Science and Wellness program, where she advised prospective students. Admissions officers also invited her to barbecues and eventually she even rented a room in one of the admissions employee's houses. "In corporate America, you lose touch with the real things – people and community," she says. "I'm so much happier now and so much more connected to the world around me," she says. "It was 'soul-sucking' before."
Tammy is now in her final quarter of the Exercise Science and Wellness program and looks forward to completing an internship at Cycle University before graduating in the spring. Tammy has found that close contact with the professors at Bastyr made a big difference in her academic success. "There are some amazingly brilliant professors here and I love the opportunity we have to learn from them in such an intimate setting. I hear about bigger universities that have 200-400 students per class, and you rarely, if ever, get one-on-one time with a professor. All the professors at Bastyr are very accessible and open to sharing their knowledge."
Although having enough time for work, school and sports training can be a challenge, she credits her professors for teaching her about the value of finding balance and knowing when to let go. This shift in perspective has allowed Tammy to reframe her goals by "focusing on the process instead of the outcome."
Tammy thinks this advice can also be applied to prospective students who might be thinking about attending Bastyr. Instead of asking, "What job can I get with this degree?" Tammy flips that question around and asserts that students "shouldn't choose their study based on what job they can get; they should study what they are passionate about. The rest will fall into place."
Tammy's own life experience illustrates that this was a hard-won lesson. As a child she had wanted to be a veterinarian but chose to follow a corporate career path that was materially rewarding but did not involve her passion for science or for helping others. Several years later, she found herself unfulfilled and without a healthy sense of balance in her life.
Realizing that she "couldn't change alone or in isolation," Tammy worked on developing her sense of "social wellness" and began accepting more support from friends and family. She quickly found that having a community of support around her was the best way to find the motivation to make lasting changes in both her lifestyle and her career. Ultimately, this shift in thinking led her straight to Bastyr University, though if you ask Tammy, she will tell you that she feels "like Bastyr actually chose me."
So what's next for a woman who has proven that there are no limits to what she can accomplish? Tammy plans to continue coaching at Cycle University, to compete in Half-Ironman and Ironman distance triathlons and perhaps to contemplate graduate school while she takes a breather from academic life. With a wink and a smile, she concedes, "Knowing me, it will be a short breather."
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