The Recreation Section Administrators group will host a round table discusion on Friday July 27th at 1pm (Palatine Park District, 250 E. Wood St) on how your front desk operations work at your community center or major facility.  Rec Admin Roundtable Flyer

Bring your information to share with others. Great opportunity for Supervisors or Interns to learn. Share new ideas with your Director or Board.  PLEASE RSVP TO:  Steven Nagle- Waukegan Park District(snagle@waukeganparks.org) or Steve Muenz- St. Charles Park Dist (smuenz@st-charlesparks.org).

Our Teen Camp went to the Garfield Park Conservatory this past week to see the “Niki in the Garden” exhibit (very cool by the way).  I used the 2 scavenger hunts provided by the Conservatory and mixed them up a bit (made them a little harder for our teens) and added extra photos, tasks, and questions to make it longer.  Since the sculpture exhibit will be leaving in the fall, we won’t be able to use it again next year, so I thought that I’d share it with all of you in case any of your camps are going and you’d like to do the same thing. 

You can download the file at here. I haven’t included the answers, but if you want them, you can e-mail me at bobbin@oakparkparks.com. 

The IPRA Senior Committee is looking for volunteers of recreation staff, senior coordinators, and interns for the 2007 Six-County Senior Olympics.  It is run completely by volunteers in the areas of registration, officiating, timing, and scorekeeping in skill areas of biking, swimming, track & field, billiards, etc.  Events are held in Park Ridge and the surrounding area and in Elmhurst. 
 
You might find it quite inspiring to rub elbows with these energetic “seniors”.  If you or staff/interns can volunteer a 1/2 day or full day on July 17, 18 or 19 please contact us right away-we neeed you!!  Thank you!

To volunteer online, click on this link!

Save the Date!
Supervisor Symposium 2007

Growing Towards Greatness!
Presented by: Rec Section & Facility Management Section

Wednesday, October 10 & Thursday, October 11, 2007   at Wheaton Park District

We are looking at restructuring our Safety Committee.  Does anyone have any input on how thier safety committees are ran?   We are open to any and all new ideas, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Also, we are developing lock down procedures and training.  Rather than reinvent the wheel, does anyone have lockdown procedures in place that we can adjust to fit our facilities? And if possible staff training methods for those lock down procedures?  Again, any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

I can be reached at sarahw@btpd.org or 815-933-9905    

Thanks so much!

Sarah C. Winkel, Bourbonnais Township Park District

Recognize your staff that are shining stars!
Preschool Staff! Before & After School Staff! Dance Instructors! Sports Instructors!

Attend IPRA’s Annual Staff Appreciation Award Dinner!
Wednesday, May 2 at 6pm
Seville Banquet Hall in Streamwood

Honorees will be highlighted at the awards dinner and receive a special IPRA star pin (*). This is a great way to recognize your staff for a job well done!

Don’t wait to register! Registration deadline is April 13!

Any questions regarding the dinner – contact Kathy at Schaumburg Park District at 847-490-7036.

(*) Pins are an additional cost to the dinner price.
This event is presented by IPRA Rec Section’s Early Childhood Committee.

Don’t forget to stop by the Recreation Section annual conference social on Thursday, January 25th from 5:00-7:00 pm. The room number will be posted on the information board and by the elevators. Free refreshments, games & prizes!!! We hope to see you there!

The Recreation Section is so extremely excited to announce that it has established a Scholarship Program for Recreation Section members! Please click the link here for the Scholarship Program application and more detailed information. If you have any questions regarding the scholarship program please contact Jennifer Sweeney at jsweeney@northfieldparks.org.

It’s time to subscribe for the blog. Alisa and the entire Recreation Section Board wants you to sign up today!

Our first recreation section meeting of 2007 will be this Thursday, January 18 at 11am.  Meeting will be at IPRA in the lower level (1815 S. Meyers Rd, Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181).  All are welcome to attend!  We are always looking for new recreation section members to get involved! 

Please contact Alisa Kapusinski, Rec Section Director, at 847-781-3631 with any questions.

Welcome to the new home for IPRA’s Recreation Section professionals! As you’ll soon find out, this new blog (read: interactive Web site) will allow for so much more learning and interaction among members than the old static Recreation page.

With this new site, you as the Recreation Section members, have the ability to become Contributors and post your own questions, news, learning experiences, meeting updates, workshop reminders, etc. You no longer have to wait for IPRA staff to update little nuggets of information - the power is in your hands!

Once you’ve published a post others in the section have the ability to comment on them and provide feedback. This begins the interaction and learning. Think of this blog as the Recreation ListServ on steroids! Same great concept but now every post will be archived by category for later reference. You also don’t have to worry about email addresses - and bad emails too.

The success of the Recreation Section blog is really up to you, the member. If nothing ever gets posted and no one ever comments it’ll become a static page like the one you’re used to. Take control of your Recreation communications and get the word out.

To get started as a Contributor, simply click on the Login link at the top of the page…click on Register…enter a Username you’d like to use and you’re email address…and a password will be sent to you within 48 hours. Now you can Login with your information and begin writing and publishing your thoughts. Easy huh?

We’re hear to help so let us know if you’re having any issues. Have fun!