My last program

I handed out the championship shirts to the volleyball players because it was the last day of the league. Everyone who was a part of the league received a shirt and played out the final day. This semester and internship was a great experience for me. I am going to take all the skills I have learned and apply it to my next job. I have a job interview today for a summer camp at the Jewish community center. I have been working there since I was 16 and am hoping they still want to hire me. I might have to take less money but I will do that to keep the job. The money I will make can help towards for masters. Thanks for reading this semester.

Different times

During the time I was there, they had Freshman Orientation, which was call academic transition program (ATA) and you can hear the same complaints at WKU that you hear from parents and students at Freshman Orientation at ASU. Boring, not necessary to do some of the programming. The DUC or what I would refer to as their MU was quieter than ASU, as they only have 17,000 students on campus.
They have the same time schedules for classes, so at 10:00, there are hardly any students to be seen, but at 10:45, it is as if they all popped out of the ground to go to their next class. All classes are scheduled as the same times, so it definitely does not look like people walking the campus all the time. They have 15-minute intervals between classes, very similar to a high school scheduling, so when classes start there aren't any students wandering around, unless they are not in class and are leaving campus, or are not going to class. Feels very different from ASU because you see students all day long one would never know if someone failed to go to class.

The Campus of WKU

The campus has quite a bit of diversity, although you would think that in Bowling Green being such a small community that there is very little diversity. The International Club is very strong and put on a very interesting and well-attended program in the DUC when I was there this past Friday. It was entertaining, had international foods from different countries, was well organized, and had quite a bit of public relations and marketing to pull it off as a very successful event.

I was very impressed with all of the facilities on campus, the classrooms and older buildings are all in the restoration stages of construction. It is very similar to ASU where there seems to be construction sites all over with additions and updating.

The people, professors and staff at Western Kentucky University has a very friendly welcoming experience. It has the Southern hospitality that you only hear about. Experiencing it was quite refreshing and they instantly made you feel like their school was just a home away from home.

Assistantship

The Assistantship is for 2 years in the field of Recreation Administration. I will be expected to have two programs a month in the DUC. It is located directly across from the Diddle Arena, the basketball stadium that is where my classes take place. In the building there is a 4th floor which has its own bowling alley - and areas for students to gather play pool, ping-pong, there are even pinball machines. It is very conducive to have a nice community to socialize and have some alternative fun on campus.

The programming will be run from within Student Affairs. In the past, the programs were run by organizations and they just used the building and facilities. Having the programs run by a Graduate Assistant will create more funds for Student Affairs. It will be run with those in charge of the building and facilities, so it will be more smoothly coordinated.

WKU

Western Kentucky University has a graduate program for Recreation and Sports Administration. I was accepted for this fall and I applied for the graduate assistantship at the DUC. This is like our MU. I would be in charge of running programs just as I do in my internship. Therefore, I visited Western Kentucky University to be interviewed for the Graduate Assistantship, which was definitely important. I think having a face-to-face interview with ones employer is a plus in this time of economic changes. The school is located in Bowling Green, which is a small community with facilities and campus that is excellent. I signed up for my classes and saw the classrooms that are located in the Diddle arena.

April

This week I had a meeting set up with Dr. Friedman however we were unable to meet because my supervisor’s do not think the fall schedule is solid enough for the program to move forward. Therefore, we are not able to meet with the academic colleges and I am hoping that we can meet with the Deans to have them support the program financially before the end of this semester. There is an award ceremony from the ASU Dynamic Downtown Devil Awards Program that I will be attending since I had a nomination as a trailblazer and outstanding student employee. I am honored to be recognized by my employers and even if I do not win, it is great to be recognized for the work that I have put in this semester. I have had four days of volleyball and there are two more Mondays left. We will provide championship shirts that the winner of the league will wear.

Update

Since the last time I have written not a lot has happened. I am involved in the transition phase of Downtown Intramurals. I have a program tonight with the spring festival. I am in charge of dodge ball inferno. I am in charge of having the referee and I will be there to make sure the program runs safely as well as I am there to be in charge of risk management. I am going to be the one to administer CPR and first AID. I am also getting ready for a meeting with Dr. Friedman the dean of the college for downtown. I am also preparing for the volleyball league on Monday night. This will be the fourth night and we have two more nights to come. I have been in charge of ordering the championship shirts to hand to the winning teams of the league. I will keep you updated as things occur.

Link to the ASU Downtown Intramural Sports page for Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=47813438078

Link to Recreation at the Downtown Phoenix campus

http://students.asu.edu/node/1839

Program Handbook Outline

Program Handbook:
1. How to register for an intramural event
o YMCA front desk
o Online registration
2. Team captain responsibilities
o Rules specific to that intramural sport
o Intramural policies and procedures
o League changes
o Schedules
3. Participant eligibility for YMCA use
o ASU students
o Faculty
o Alumni
4. Participant eligibility for parks use
o Open to Public
o ASU students
o YMCA memberships
o Alumni
5. Policies and procedures
o ID required
o Refunds
o League Play
o Injuries
o Awards
6. Team sportsmanship rating
o Outstanding
o Acceptable
o Unacceptable
o Season Ending
7. Academic Colleges
o Public Programs
o School of Journalism
o School of Nursing
8. YMCA contributions to recreational sports program
o In charge of Registration
o Transportation
o Facility use
9. City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation contributions to recreational sports program
o Facility use
10. Arizona State University contributions
o Director of Intramurals
o Marketing
o Hiring Supervisors and referees
11. Contact information
o YMCA contact
o ASU contact
o City of Phoenix Contact


Project deadline is May 5, 2009.

I must have contact with all the deans of the Downtown campus to discuss what to do that will integrate recreation with the academic colleges, have their support, and make connections with students. I must have a meeting with the YMCA and City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation to discuss what we can do to make sure that the program will run smoothly and everyone is on the same page. The meeting will happen in the middle of April. I hope to have everything done before the new intramural league supervisor takes over my position.

Up to date Information

Last night we had our focus group. Three people showed up to express their opinions dealing with campus recreation. Here are some of the suggestions that we heard. Have competition between clubs and student organizations on the Downtown campus. Also use the CA’s and the first week of move in for the students to get them involved in intramurals. We have identified the reasons why students should participate. Here are some of those reasons retention of students, keeping connections within living communities, and staying healthy. There are also communities inside Taylor Place that should be tapped into in the semesters to come. With all of this information, the Downtown Recreational Sports Program can become the premier program in the urban setting. I have to make a program handbook for future league supervisors and will be finishing that soon. I am also going to be making the fall 2009 schedule that should be finished soon.

March

After spring break is the time for these programs to get off the ground. I am going to have my first tournament for any program in this semester on March 22, 2009. It is going to be badminton. There is also indoor volleyball and flag football leagues that are coming up. I am getting excited for these intramurals to follow through. I have not much more to say until the focus group happens on the 25th of this month. Which as of now I only have one person coming to give their thoughts. The deadline to RSVP is tomorrow and another mass email has been sent out today. I can only hope that this focus group will go through and the downtown Recreational Sports Program will flouish for years to come.

To grow and foster ..

As spring break nears and a focus group still has not happened I begin to see that it is not as easy to get a focus group together and I have the task of getting two. One group is for on campus students and another for students who live off campus. I am still in the process of making a formal letter to have sent out to the students to have them RSVP. I am watching the calendar fly by and I have still had no programs. I am also seeing that doing your own marketing is a hassle. I have just learned today that my email address of the flyers that are all over campus is wrong. I looked over as well as had other look at them to make sure they were correct and it is now the end of February and I am still editing the flyers.

Last week though I ordered equipment with the budget I have because I decided even if not one sports goes through on our schedule that the recreational sports program will still have equipment for years to come. I am excited about everything good and bad because it is real life experience and I will not get this in a classroom. I am thankful for the opportunity that I have and am humble about it all as well.

Focus Groups

Since my last post I have done thinking on how to bring intramurals alive on the downtown Phoenix campus. I have met with the web designer at Arizona State University on Tempe's campus to get the website up and running. I have laid out the design that downtown recreational sports program site will be looking like and have put in the request to have it go up in the near future. I also had my first business lunch. It was fun and we went to hamburger works on 15th Ave and Thomas. It is just like the Chuck Box on Tempe's campus. I set up this meeting with Phoenix Parks and Recreation to discuss how to handle the focus group for the community. The decision was made to make a survey to find out how we could better the intramural program with community members. Also this week I handled some things for the focus group for students. I have made questions that relate to what the students are dealing with in school and their leisure time. I am not rushing this process because I would like the best outcome to get the students involved. I am also going to be doing a focus group for YMCA members. I will be hoping to meet with them in the next two weeks. As all of the focus groups are met with I will then bring the collective group together for a final session so everyone is happy and on the same page about the intramural program. I know a lot of good will come of this and the downtown Phoenix community will be impacted positively. I hope everyone is doing well on their internships.

Time Flys

It seems like week six but I think it is only week four. I have not been doing as much as I wanted to do because it is slow. There have been no sign ups for any of the programs and I am thinking of doing a feedback session with student’s downtown to better the quality and understand what needs to change to make the Downtown Recreational Sports Program grow in this urban setting. I am typing all the possible questions that could be asked to get all aspects of what the program needs to do and move forward in this challenging time. It is really exciting though to have the opportunity to grow this program from the beginning and lay the foundation down to make the Downtown Campus a place for growth in the recreation field. I am setting up a time, place, and people who I will be contacting to get this in motion. I am waiting for my budget proposal to come through by student government. In the mean time, I am also trying to develop a website that will streamline all the information that the program has to offer. In the middle of all this, I am applying to graduate school and am hoping to further my studies in the recreational field. This internship will past by so quickly I will not really get the chance to soak it all in but I will try my best to live in this moment as the Intramural League Supervisor.

"Where recreation is education!"

This past week I spent time doing things I never thought I would be doing in this job. I proposed a budget for my first time, made a frequently asked question sheet for people who could walk into the office at anytime and ask about the recreational sports program on the downtown campus. This semester will be the first time we have online registration so I am working out all the bugs that will come along with this feat. The programs should be starting tomorrow yet no one has signed up. I feel like we have great advertising and the students know of this program but there is not much interest like that of Tempe’s campus. I have decided that we could take the teams that are on waiting lists at Tempe to the downtown campus because as the motto goes “One University in Many Places.” So as I move forward from my 2nd week on the job I have come away with a sense that you can’t take things to personally. I will evaluate the downtown campus and look to find ways to better its sports program and make this a premier urban campus.

My first week

It has only been one week but I feel like I have been working for a while now. I took the light rail down to Tempe and also have an office at the post office downtown. I have been making the final schedule for the intramurals, a frequently asked questions page for my student assistants and am hoping to get a few people from the Information session on Taylor Mall. I have had two meetings, one with the City of Phoenix and YMCA partners and also one with the Student recreation complex with my assistant director. I am in charge of a student workshop next Sunday the 25th. I will keep you updated about what is coming up on my agenda.