SRU’s undergraduate exercise science program is nationally recognized as one of the best in the country. Exercise science is the largest major at SRU. It brought in 568 students in the fall 2025 semester.
However, going to class is not the only way that students can be involved in exercise science.
Exercise Science Society is an expansion of the exercise science major.
“The Exercise Science Society serves to connect students within the major,” President Brady Blakeslee said. “This could be with each other, with professors or with professionals in the field.”
Blakeslee, a junior exercise science major, has been involved in ESS since he was a freshman.
Blakeslee said the organization’s most important mission is to provide connection. One way the organization does this is by hosting events that give students an opportunity to get to know their professors better.
“One [event] is a ‘doctors and donuts’ or ‘professors and pizza’ sort of thing, where you sit down with [professors] and talk to them more,” Blakeslee said.
He discussed bringing in professors to host speaking events for students.
“In order to get where they are, [the professors] are very passionate about what they do,” Blakeslee said. “If there are things that they can talk about outside of what they’re teaching in class, that could be a valuable experience for students as well.”
In the past, ESS has hosted professionals in the exercise science field to talk to students.
“We bring in professionals from the field, like people working in oncology, chiropractors and personal trainers,” Blakeslee said. “They can talk about what they do and how they got there to potentially inspire students looking for direction professionally.”
ESS has hosted a variety of events to make exercise fun. “I think it’s important to practice what we preach in exercise science,” Blakeslee said. “Exercise, health and wellness, fitness and all of these things can be exemplified in a fun way by getting together and doing something active and fun.”
To carry out this value, the organization has hosted trips to Urban Air, as well as color runs and bonfire events.
Blakeslee said the organization has no events planned yet, but the new executive board is putting some together. They hope to take students to a Pittsburgh Penguins or Pirates game.
Blakeslee also said the organization hopes to partner with other campus clubs to host wellness events for students.
Any student can join ESS even if they are not an exercise science major. Students can find ESS on CORE and Instagram at ess_sru.
