How can I get hands-on Massage Therapy experience as a sophomore in HS for an independent school project?

I’m enrolled in a gifted education class and we have about 4 months to pull together a project that’s supposed to “benefit the community/world”, not just be a research project, and will be presented at an Expo in May. I chose massage therapy and need to shadow a specialist or gain some sort of firsthand experience, but I desperately need ideas that don’t involve driving to the nearest college campus and paying a lot of money to take a course. I have to keep in mind that I’m only 16, and that I live in the suburbs around Chicago. Please suggest any ideas?

I don’t think you should even consider giving a hands on massage with no training.

Either interview a masseur and do some research on different schools of massage or pick another project.

Amanda Baskwill – Canadian Massage Therapy Research Network