Junior pre-major Alyssa Case never misses cycling class on Tuesday and Thursday nights at 6:10 p.m. The instructor for the cycling class happens to be a junior at the university as well. 

Junior nursing major Jessie Carter said she got her instructor certification the summer before her sophomore year when she heard a position was opening at the University Recreation Center. Carter started out as a hip-hop teacher and now teaches abs and cycling classes for the semester. 

Senior marketing major Kyndall Pritchett said the music and encouraging attitude Carter brings to her classes makes her come back for more every week.

“I had no idea she went to TCU,” Pritchett said. “Especially being a nursing major, I have no idea how she has time to do this because I barely have time to come work out, much less teach a workout class.”

In addition to teaching exercise classes, Carter also works as a transcriptionist downtown at Harris Methodist Hospital. Carter said she teaches classes to de-stress from school and hospital work and likes to help others de-stress through working out as well.

“For both school and teaching classes, I have to really watch the clock,” Carter said. “I have to watch it for school, and when I’m teaching and I do homework in-between classes. So they go together quite nicely. It’s good for my time management.”

Carter said she enjoys telling personal stories and interacting with people in her classes.

During each cycling class, Carter promises people in attendance they “will leave stronger than when they came.”

“I think it’s really important to take classes with an instructor that you can tell wants to be there and pushes her class,” Case said. “Jessie definitely does that with the songs she chooses and the little things she says throughout the class to encourage people.”

Carter said she hopes to continue teaching classes in the future and after graduation. The next certification Carter plans to get is her Yoga Instructor permit.