How Yasmine Fundi ’25 Combines Dance and Biology to Explore Healing Through Movement
Yasmine Fundi ’25 studies Biology and Dance at Bennington. She reflected upon her Field Work Term at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, a member of Dartmouth Health, in Bennington, VT, and shared her plans for after graduation.
You study Dance and Biology. How did you land on that combination of studies?
I've always been fascinated by the connection between body movement and mental state. I remember my mom used to tell me, “I can tell you're happy just by the way you're walking,” which always made me laugh—but also stuck with me. It made me realize how deeply our physical presence can reflect our inner world. That insight continues to shape how I approach my work; I try to align my efforts in ways that highlight the powerful link between movement and emotional well-being.
Before coming to Bennington, I served as a mentor for children in my community, helping them explore their potential in both the arts and sciences. I encouraged them to see how their skills could be used to uplift and support their own communities. My passion for physical therapy stems from this same belief that movement and health are deeply connected and that healing through movement can be both powerful and transformative.
Your last Field Work Term was with Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC) here in Bennington. What work did you do there?
SVMC’s Director of Planning James Trimarchi, who recruited me, encouraged me to visit this website called Youth Risk Behavior Survey. It said that youth in Bennington don't engage in enough activity and that plays a part in their mental health. So I partnered with the Learning Tree Childcare Center at the hospital to engage with the kids and create a project that I called “Move and Bond,” which was about moving together and bonding. I learned about the animal walk therapy that is dominant in the physical therapy realm because it targets motor sensory development. It is most beneficial to kids between the ages of two and five years old. It was just phenomenal. Kids loved it!
I also did work on a program to help children with autism and took the first steps toward a program that will connect 51 students with middle and high school students in mentorship pairs. According to the survey, youth in the area have few adults in their lives they can trust. There was a drop from about 80% to 60% in the gap of just three years, which is quite a lot. The mentorship program is designed to help with that.
Your work at the hospital opened up other opportunities. How so?
At SVMC, I met Nina Nunes, a physical therapy assistant at the hospital. I connected with her first for the project that I did for the kids. I was able to shadow her as well as other physical therapists, which deepened my understanding of the field. Later on, she said she was doing a project with Bennington Project Independence, an adult daycare program for the geriatric population. It’s a twelve-week program to help them sustain balance and coordination. I sometimes go there and help with the program and take notes and make sure everyone is doing the exercises as is recommended by the PTA.
What's next for you?
I got accepted into a few Doctorate physical therapy programs. My top two are both in Massachusetts: Massachusetts College of Health and Pharmacology and American International College. Those are the two main ones that I was targeting because I was interested in the way they teach. They have an experimental-based teaching style, so you do a lot of practical work, or clinical work. So it's sort of like what we have here with Field Work Term, but it is included as part of the semester.
Who were the most influential people along the way?
My advisor Blake Jones has been helpful in the whole process of graduate school and staying on top of everything, including connecting me with important people and encouraging me to push forward. James Trimarchi at SVMC was also helpful in the sense that he encouraged the way Bennington pushes you to think differently.
What would you share with other students?
The stress of being a student is real, but it’s worth it. I’m learning and growing, and I find genuine joy in discovering new ways of thinking. At times, it feels overwhelming, like there’s too much happening at once and no clear direction. But the combination of classroom learning and hands-on experience in the hospital has made it all meaningful.
There are moments when you wonder how this knowledge will translate to the real world. But then you’re in it, and it clicks: you are learning for a purpose. You’re not doing this for nothing. Knowing that the skills and understanding I’m gaining will one day serve the people who need it most is incredibly rewarding.