Tom Cormier utilized advanced online education to fuel a career path that led him to his current position of Manager, Commercial Operations & Global Academic Support at Setanta College, an internationally renowned higher education provider in human performance and sports science. Cormier received his Master’s in Performance Science at Setanta in 2018, and the college hired him after completing his degree.
The experience has fueled a passion for Cormier to help others down the same path. And he found a perfect partner for this mission—the NHSSCA.
Setanta College and the NHSSCA have teamed up for a special scholarship program. Every year, two association members get awarded a scholarship to the college’s master’s program in Strength & College, Personal Training, and Performance Coaching. The winners can begin their enrollment at Setanta either with fall enrollment in September or spring enrollment in March.
“From the standpoint of Setanta College, the mission of this scholarship program is to make sure we are taking care of one of our important partners, the NHSSCA, and looking out for their members who want to advance in their career,” Cormier said. “At Setanta, we asked ourselves: ‘How can we further develop high school strength coaches and commit to advancing their profession?’ The answer came from discussing our goal with the NHSSCA.
“We’re helping to reduce barriers to entry for further education and make it accessible to all members, where they can do it online and any time that works with their schedule,” continued Cormier. “This program provides affordable, accessible, and accredited education to individuals to stake the next step in their professional journey.”
The two winners get selected for the scholarship program from a drawing held at NatCon each June. At this year’s conference, the chosen recipients were Caroline Palmer, Strength & Conditioning Coach at Mary Rutan Health Center in Bellefontaine, Ohio, and Garrett Keith, Strength & Conditioning Coach at Westminster Christian School in Huntsville, Alabama.
During the program’s first year, one full scholarship to Setanta College, a $15,000 fully accredited master’s program, was awarded. The winner was Maddie Diestel, Strength & Conditioning Coach at Archbishop Hoban High School in Akron, Ohio.
This past year, the change was made to award a $7,500 scholarship to two deserving NHSSCA members.
We decided it’s much better to assist two NHSSCA members rather than one,” Cormier explained. “We’re providing half of the funding for our fully accredited master’s program, and the select recipient has options to fund the other half, such as funding from their school or another third party.”
The process by which an NHSSCA member applies for the Setanta Scholarship Program is very straightforward. They need to attend NatCon and fill out a short application form.
Said Cormier: “High School Strength Coaches make a huge commitment to develop their students as athletes and serve as a mentor to them. So in setting up the scholarship program, we didn’t want to make interested candidates have to fill out a lot of forms to essentially prove they are ‘worth it.’ We decided that a high school strength coach is worthy of consideration because they are a member of the NHSSCA and is attending NatCon. The winners of the scholarship get rewarded by merit because of the high standards of the association.”
There’s one other benefit to the Setanta College-NHSSCA partnership: All association members automatically receive 10% off their enrollment fees to the college.
Cormier is thrilled to help create a program that provides members of the NHSSCA with the educational foundation to further their career as strength coaches because, given all that they do for others, they are so deserving of the opportunity.
‘High School Strength Coaches perform their duties for the love of the profession and the love of their student-athletes,” he said. “The one adjective I would use to describe NHSSCA is ‘passionate.’ Providing scholarships to these passionate educators to study with us is extremely gratifying.”
This Year’s Scholarship Recipients Realize Immediate Benefits
