MONROE — The room had all the elements of a typical spa: massage tables in cubicles separated by white drapes, soft music playing, and the lights dimmed to calm the most anxious of souls.

But just on the other side of a door, students with books walked down a sterile, harshly lit hallway to evening classes.

The makeshift spa is the practicum for the therapeutic massage program at South Piedmont Community College, a program that has become so popular since its inception that clients must sign up a month in advance to pay $25 for a one-hour massage from a first-year student or $35 for a second-year student’s hands.

“This is the best place I’ve ever been for a massage,” Libby Privette said as she left the clinic on Thursday. “The students are wonderful.”

The weekly massage clinic is booked through Thanksgiving, program director Mary Berger said. Money from the appointments goes toward paying for the student’s career startup, including business licensing and national certification through the American Massage Therapy Association.

Berger tests students every Thursday, popping in at various points in a massage session for spot checks. Berger, who has worked as a massage therapist for more than 30 years, said she’s particular about technique because, “this has been my life for so long. I’m attached to it.”

She grades the students on things like sanitation, adhering to privacy standards, preparation of the work area, and stroke skill. If students take their hands off their client, Berger said, they are docked points.

“It’s a trust issue,” Berger said. “It makes the client feel comfortable to know where you are at all times.”

At the end of a session, Berger asks clients to fill out a feedback form, which she shares with students.

“Sometimes you can say something 900 times, and it only takes one time on a feedback form to really drive it home,” Berger said.

Following each massage, students are required to fill out a SOAP — subjective, objective, action and plan — report. Students note what the patient mentioned were problem areas, what the student noticed were problem areas, what action they applied to address those issues and what they would recommend as a plan the next time.

Students are randomly paired with clients, and the SOAP forms helps prepare the next student who works with that individual, Berger said.

“In order for them to learn the different body types and muscle groups, they need to work on different sizes, shapes and genders,” said client Joyce Long, who is the program director for a nursing program at SPCC. “So I don’t mind going to someone new each time.”

Many of the clients Thursday said the massages they receive at SPCC are on par — and at times better — then ones they’ve received at spas.

“The fact that they’re students and new — I don’t even think about that when I’m in there,” Monroe resident Mary Jane Long said. “They’re very knowledgeable, very thorough.”

Those students who work the massage tables had to pass rigorous tests before being allowed to work with the public. Berger said all of the students start out giving free, 10-minute chair massages, which are also provided on Thursdays. She also requires students to practice on each other.

She is also their first client before they are allowed to lay hands on the public.

“I have to take on the point of view of both their teacher and a possible client,” she said, adding that by the time students get to the table, they’ve had at least 20 hours of massage experience. “I have to make sure that student is trustworthy before I turn them loose.”

Second-year student Carmin Sergent, 20, of Monroe, said the variety of teaching methods the program employs makes her feel well prepared for the professional world.

“One time we painted each other to figure out where the muscles were,” she said. “It was cool because it was very visual. It makes it easier for me.”

To prepare them for a variety of therapeutic massage pathways, Berger also takes her students to the hospital on Thursday mornings to provide massages to increase circulation in babies and decrease pain and stress in expectant mothers.

“That is one of the biggest opportunities we’ve gotten to do so far,” said second-year student Emma DeLamater, 20, of Monroe. “It is so amazing when you get to massage the babies and get to teach the moms how to do it and you see them bond together.”

Berger said job placement for students is fairly high and varied. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, employment for massage therapists is expected to increase 20 percent between 2006 and 2016, which is above average for job growth projections, although those figures, which were projected before the economic contraction, will be adjusted in December.

Among other places, therapeutic massage students can go work on cruise ships, with sports teams, at spas or at hospitals.

“So it’s not just cosmetic with people going to the spa to get a massage. It can also be used for medicinal purposes,” Long said.

For more information on the therapeutic massage program, visit http://tiny.cc/spccmassage