Story by Riley Palshaw
Photo courtesy of Anna Fairchild
From leading fitness classes across Columbia, to tackling leadership roles for Mizzou women’s rugby, Honors College student and nutrition and exercise physiology major Anna Fairchild has left her mark on the University of Missouri’s campus.
Now preparing to graduate in December, Fairchild looks back on how far she has come since arriving on campus. The Mexico, Missouri, native comes from a family of Tigers, but her path to finding her place at Mizzou wasn’t linear. She started in the Discovery Center and moved through agricultural business and communication before finding her fit in the nutrition and exercise physiology (NEP) degree program midway through her sophomore year.
Fairchild said she always enjoyed exercise and wellness, but it wasn’t until she took her first NEP classes that everything clicked. An Honors section of an introductory nutrition course, which focused on reading and interpreting research, shaped how she approaches new information.
“In my later classes, reading and interpreting research has proven to be super important and beneficial,” she said. “Even just in life, understanding research matters.”
Her curiosity has pushed her to get involved beyond the classroom. Fairchild has attended research studies, shadowed professionals and immersed herself in her major’s community.
“I feel like in college, like, you can show up to class, do class and leave,” said Fairchild, “but my professors know me. That’s my lasting impact. I got in, really got to know the major and job shadowed at a ton of places, not because I needed the hours, just because I was curious.”
This mindset also carried over to her work as a TigerX group fitness instructor at the MizzouRec, a job she began in June 2023. Fairchild teaches a range of classes, from functional fitness to abs and arms, and enjoys the creative freedom the role gives her. She’ll rework formats, design new workouts and adjust structures for her classes when things start to feel repetitive.
“It’s fun whenever you get a class and you can tell they’re having fun, too,” said Fairchild. “Stuff like that is really fun to see because I got into my major because I think working out is fun, so being able to create an outlet for other people to have fun working out is rewarding.”
That experience carried naturally into her work at Simple Solutions Fitness, where she began personal training in January 2024. There, she writes programs for the gym and trains clients ranging from high schoolers to adults in their 70s. Leading small-group sessions requires more individual attention and on-the-spot adjustment than her work at TigerX, but Fairchild enjoys making modifications for each of her clients based on their abilities.
Working in both environments has shaped her understanding of how fitness looks different depending on a person’s age, ability and goals. Whether she’s coaching college students through a tough circuit or modifying a lift for someone twice their age, she said the most rewarding part is seeing people realize they’re capable of more than they thought.
Her interest in helping people improve their fitness deepened through her internship with MU Extension’s Stay Strong Stay Healthy program, a falls-prevention initiative for older adults. She spent the fall 2024 semester leading sessions, completing pre- and post-assessments, and watching participants grow stronger. One 92-year-old client made one of the most memorable transformations, from shuffling at the beginning to taking more pronounced steps, which was an affirming result for Fairchild.
Fairchild credits that internship for reshaping her understanding of the kind of work she hopes to pursue.
“What I’ve gained the most clarity on is I want to help the people in most need of help,” she said. “I would rather help the people who maybe are not at baseline get to baseline fitness.”
She hopes to continue that work in graduate school, likely in public health, whether at Mizzou or elsewhere.
Outside of health and fitness, Fairchild found another community through Mizzou women’s rugby, a sport her mother played at the university. She joined the team in 2021, with no playing experience and when the roster was so small they couldn’t run full scrimmages. Over four and a half years, she watched the program rebuild, grow in skill, and become more competitive across both the fall and spring seasons.
“Being able to know that I played my part in fostering that community is rewarding,” said Fairchild, who served as the program’s president last year. “It’s been fun for me to get better and improve as a player, but then watch the entire team develop and get better together, too.”
With graduation on the horizon, Fairchild said she’s ready to carry what she learned at Mizzou into the next stage of her life. Whether she returns for graduate school or heads somewhere new, she hopes to keep working with the people who need help most.