By By KATHIE HEMPEL / Niles Daily Star
NILES – Health and fitness is a growing industry across the nation.
This new industry is looking for well-trained therapeutic massage therapists, personal fitness trainers and sports nutrition specialists.
They are finding some of the best right here in Niles.
When Chad Gardner and Tammy Merriman-Gardner decided to open the fully-certified Holistic Wellness Academy, they were sure of one thing: They knew it had to be in Niles.
It is located at 222 N. Front St. across from the Riverfront Cafe.
"I was raised in Niles. Chris was raised in Dowagiac. This is home," Merriman-Gardner said.
Gardner was a middle-school teacher at Ring Lardner and now teaches at Cedar Lane Alternative Education. The couple has two young children they want to raise here.
"I didn't want to work 40 to 60 hours away from my family and I wanted a flexible schedule," Merriman-Gardner said.
With that as her criteria, she chose to study to become a therapeutic massage therapist. Her first day in class set her course.
"I thought we could do this better," she said.
She recruited her husband, who bought into the plan and the couple began a small school in their home. That was the start.
The course is nine months in length, during which students attend three nights a week from 6 to 9 p.m. Students have to interview for the course so that the Gardners can be sure they have the right stuff.
"We need to be sure they are willing to work and study hard. Ethics and morality is a big deal. People who leave here happy, well-trained and saying they had fun-that is what it is all about," said Gardner,
In the past three years, 50 students have graduated from the academy. The couple is extremely proud of their success.
"Doctors and salons now call and we have some of the most requested graduates in their field. We have placed 99 percent of those who have asked for our help in that area. Our students are working in day spas, wellness centers, chiropractor offices, dental offices, beauty salons and gyms," Merriman-Gardner said.
Students have commuted from as far away as Akron, Ind., to attend classes offered at the Holistic Wellness Academy.
All students graduate with certification in five areas: therapeutic massage, personal fitness training, sports nutrition, Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation and confidentiality training.
"We call our students the triple threat. Here they get training and certification in five things for the price of one certification elsewhere.
"To be certified as a massage therapist alone is normally $10,000," Merriman-Gardner said.
Student to teacher ratio is low with the average class size being seven to eight students. They come straight out of high school or looking for a second career, sometimes after retirement.
"We had one gentleman who was with City Bank for 36 years. He was in great shape and in our endurance testing, beat out some who were only 18 years old. Another of their students now works for the J.Ross Salon in South Bend, Ind., and continues to report back on how thrilled she is to be making $35 rather than her previous $7-an-hour wage," said Gardner.
The next steps for the dynamic duo, is to endure the process of becoming an accredited teaching institution. It is an extremely intensive process and they are determined to get it right the first time.