OHS Alum Opens New Massage School - Oakdale Leader

[massage]

Graduating seniors of the Central Valley may not have to travel far for their continued education this spring. Oakdale High School alum Michelle Scott recently opened Elements School of Massage. Located at 202 N. Second Ave., Oakdale, the school will begin its first session in early June of this year.

“I’ve been doing massage for 19 years,” Scott said of her personal experience.

She shared that while working at Memorial Hospital she started taking massage therapy classes.

“I wanted a job that was going to make good money, per hour to get me through school and I ended up loving it and sticking with it all this time,” she admitted. “Since I’m able to make my own schedule, I just love it.”

She now wants to not only share that love and passion, but model the teaching style she was privy to under the guidance of Michael Egan at Body Tune Up School of Massage in Stockton.

As a certified massage therapist, Scott shared she’s trained extensively at various schools including Southern California and China, where she traveled with the late Egan.

“I knew eventually I wanted to open a school. I want to help people become really good therapists,” she stated. “I’m modeling this school a lot on the school I went to in Stockton. He was wonderful. I had a very good connection with him and with the school and the people I went to school with.”

Elements School of Massage will be led completely by Scott for the first year of instruction. Her intention is to keep class size small so that she may work directly with each student, just as Egan did with her.

The school is a 600-hour massage therapy program, which will take five months to complete. Scott’s program is CAMTC (California Massage Therapy Council) approved. Students will be taught anatomy, kinesiology, pathology as well as history of massage, ethics, reflexology, Swedish, deep tissue, prenatal, chair massage, health and self-care and a business course.

“I actually introduce the business course earlier in the course, just to get people thinking,” Scott said. “To get them to start thinking what do they want to do when they leave here, because I know that when I started I wanted one thing and when I ended school I wanted to run my own business.”

Classes will be limited to a class size of eight. Instruction will be held Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. with a 30 minute lunch.

“I feel like this program is going to be very beneficial,” she said of the program she has built for the students. Using inspiration for her initial Stockton training, the program was built from the Trail Guide to the Body books.

“It’s definitely an MBLEx (Massage and Bodywork Licensing Examination) prep course,” Scott stated, “that’s what I keep referring to it as. It is 100 percent focused on what’s going to be on that exam.

“I want people to leave here feeling skilled and confident in the knowledge that they gain here,” she added, noting the goal is for students to be able to be up and running in the field within 30 days of completing the course.

Transitioning from Massage Therapist to school owner for the Oakdale resident she shared has proven to be a labor of love inspired by her late father. According to Scott, her father became suddenly ill two and a half years ago and within less than a month he passed. During the time of his illness, he encouraged his daughter to pursue her greatest passion.

“It was a lot of work. It’s a very long process (opening the school) but it’s totally worth it,” she said of beginning the process two years ago. “Just filling out the application alone, took me a year. I think that I just have a lot to share with people and I’m looking really forward to teaching.”

She also is excited to be pursuing her passion here.

“The location is wonderful,” she said of the downtown Oakdale location. “I still like the small town feel. I live here and Oakdale is just more fitting for me. I do want a small quaint little school.”

The official ribbon cutting for the school will be hosted on April 25. Scott shared she has joined the Oakdale Chamber of Commerce and is excited by the opportunities and support the Chamber offers local businesses.

“I’m really excited to see the people come through here,” she summarized. “I’m really passionate about it. I want to develop the relationships.”

For more information on Elements School of Massage visit www.elementsschoolofmassage.com or call (209) 840-2560.

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