Bryan Lemme

When Bryan Lemme began college, he didn’t think he would go into the health science field or ever become a teacher. “Initially, I actually wanted to get into law enforcement,” Lemme says. “My mom’s a retired nurse and I seem to have developed similar interests. I like anatomy, physiology, the human body, and anything medical. So I decided to get a degree in something I could always fall back on, which I did but couldn’t be happier.” In 2009, after earning his Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science degree from William Paterson University and his Master of Science in Clinical Exercise Physiology from East Stroudsburg University, Lemme started working at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood as a clinical exercise physiologist. As of today, he still works there per diem helping patients who are suffering from chronic diseases.

“It’s a challenge, for sure, trying to learn everything, and I’m still learning,” Lemme says. “Things change constantly especially within my industry and in my field. Think about nutrition. You hear a new thing all the time because research comes out and supports one idea or the other.”

In the Fall of 2011, Lemme saw that County College of Morris had a full-time professor position open. “I never thought in my life I would ever do anything like this. I was more the kind of student who was always concerned about being called on or having to do public speaking, so I decided to challenge myself and maybe go for it.

“I love to teach exercise physiology,” Lemme says. “What makes that class unique is that we have a really nice lab, and we’re very fortunate to be able to acquire a lot of sophisticated, well-known equipment that’s used in research settings. Being able to do a lot of hands-on work and teach students how to run tests safely and effectively, being able to analyze the data and results, and to apply that seems to be the things students like a lot.

“One thing I love about teaching is that I learn from the students,” Lemme says. “They might come up with a question that I sit back and go, ‘I really don’t know that. Let me go look it up.’ And then I’ll spend hours until I’m finally satisfied with an answer. I’ll dig through a lot of research, and then I can come back confidently and provide them with an answer. You’re never done learning.”