Winter 2007 Newsletter
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Auction • Welcome • Internships • Rho Phi • CPRS Abstracts • Alumni • New Classes • Thanks • Donate
A Night of Roman Leisure
Kristin Markert
Over 200 people attended "A Night of Roman Leisure" on Feb. 24. It was a successful event in which our REC Excellence fund grossed 29 percent more than last year! The auction committee worked overtime to put on the most successful dinner and auction the REC Program has ever seen. Co-chairs Heather Ferrai and Kristin Markert, faculty advisors Kendi Root, CMP and Cynthia Moyer, and committee members Christie Goodfellow, Amanda Milholland, Anne Giapapas, Kaitlyn Manley, Dana Matteson, Chelsea Green, and Lance Turner worked for over six months and had a blast planning this event. This year we had over 50 silent auction items and 16 live auction items. Thank you to everyone who helped with the event either by setting up, cleaning up, or attending. Without all of you our event would not have been such a memorable night. For information on how to help out with next year's event, contact Kendi Root for an application.
From My Little Wooden Desk…
Dr. Bill Hendricks
Having just returned from the California Park and Recreation Society and Pacific Southwest Region Conference, it is apparent that our program should be extremely proud of our faculty, students, and alumni. More than 2,000 professionals from California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii attended the conference. Conference highlights included presentations by faculty and students in the educational sessions and at the research symposium. In fact, of the 16 research posters and presentations, 11 were from Cal Poly and 7 of these involved Cal Poly students! Read more of Dr. Hendricks' welcome…
Internship Spotlight
During winter quarter, 10 students interned with public, nonprofit, and commercial agencies. Three of the students who did internships are Megan Scarrone, Pat Tugend, and Jennifer Gregorie. Megan interned for the Bakersfield Condors Hockey Team as the special events coordinator, Pat interned with the San Luis Obispo Downtown Association, and Jennifer interned in the special event department for Pebble Beach. Read more on internships… about the internships and find out how your agency can provide an internship.
Rho Phi
Rho Phi Lambda hosted their first job fair on Friday, Feb. 23, at the Inn at Morro Bay. A variety of companies such as E!Entertainment and Camp Ocean Pines attended this successful event. Rho Phi plans on making this an annual job fair.
Currently, the fraternity is working on a new philanthropy project with the Interfaith Coalition for the Homeless. Members will be volunteering and staying overnight at the coalition's shelter to help with programs and socialize with the occupants. Additionally, Rho Phi will be planning a Spring Initiation for next quarter's newly qualified REC students.
CPRS Abstracts
Several senior projects and research papers were presented at the CPRS conference in Sacramento. Among the presenters were undergraduate students Amanda Willson, Erica Francis, Chelsea Endicott, and Nicole Adams, and graduate students Tiyanya Nourbakhsh, Sara Cohn, and Sheridan Bohlken. Their studies researched topics and organizations such as USA Waterski Inc., Leave No Trace camping philosophy, Calaveras Big Trees State Park, specialization of female surfers, Yolo County YMCA, Big Sur and Oceano Dunes. Read more on CPRS….
Alumni Spotlight
In this newsletter, we are featuring two alumni, Mike Nicoson and Kevin Gonzalez. Mike graduated from Cal Poly in 1989 with a concentration/minor in Outdoor Rec & Aquatics. Currently, he is a program officer with a public foundation in San Francisco that focuses on children and youth services. Kevin graduated from Cal Poly in 1995 and is currently working as senior development officer at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. To read more about Kevin Gonzalez and Mike Nicoson, click on their names.
Give something new a try…
There are 3 new classes being offered this spring!
REC 321 (2 units) - Leave No Trace (LNT) Educator Training. Become a LNT Trainer! 5-day backpacking trip May 24-28. This course will include information for practicing and using Leave No Trace principles in the backcountry as well as the frontcountry setting.
REC 325 (4 units) - Water-based Adventure Leadership. Theoretical principles and experience in leadership, judgment, and decision-making in outdoor and adventure settings. Learn a new water skill and take a trip to Channel Islands or go white water rafting!
REC 421 (2 units) - Hotel and Resort Management. Learn about all aspects of hotel and resort management ranging from loss prevention and security to management contracts and franchise agreements. Guest speakers are integrated into most of the class lectures from The Cliffs, Dolphin Bay Inn, SeaVenture Resort, Embassy Suites, Apple Farm Inn, Inn at Morro Bay, and Pacifica Hotel Group.
Thanks Joni
We would like to thank Joni Parmer for creating the new newsletter logo! Joni’s design was chosen as a result of a contest. After much deliberation, we decided on calling the newsletter “The Report” as opposed to its former title, REC NEWS. Joni is a Recreation Administration major with a Graphics Communication minor and has done a great job of designing the new face of our newsletter.
From My Little Wooden Desk…
Dr. Bill Hendricks
Having just returned from the California Park and Recreation Society and Pacific Southwest Region Conference it is apparent that our program should be extremely proud of our faculty, students, and alumni. More than 2,000 professionals from California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii attended the conference. Conference highlights included presentations by faculty and students in the educational sessions and at the research symposium. In fact, of the 16 research posters and presentations, 11 were from Cal Poly and 7 of these involved Cal Poly students! Also evident at the conference is our growing network of alumni serving as professionals in the industry. It seemed that every time I turned a corner, another Recreation, Parks and Tourism alumnus was saying hello and sharing a career success story. Notable among these successes was David Stricker’s recognition at the conference as the recipient of the Young Professional Award from the National Recreation and Park Association Pacific Southwest Region. David is a Recreation Supervisor for the City of Bakersfield who graduated from Cal Poly in 1999. This is a tremendous tribute to David’s professionalism and achievements during the early stages of his career.
On the home front, if you did not attend the 2007 auction and dinner fundraiser “A Night of Roman Leisure” in February you missed an incredible night! A team of students and faculty spent months planning the event attended by more than 200 students, parents, faculty, advisory council members, alumni and other friends of the program. Preliminary estimates are that the event raised nearly $25,000 for the Recreation, Parks, & Tourism Administration major. If you missed it, plan on joining us next year. It is one fun time!
More good news! Our faculty has recently been awarded one of the most important research projects in the state. We will be conducting the 2007 Statewide Opinions and Attitudes Survey on Outdoor Recreation in cooperation with the California State Parks System. The survey, conducted every five years, is an element of the California Outdoor Recreation Plan that guides decisions and funding for facilities, acquisition, and services at the city, county, special district and state levels.
In closing, enjoy this unbelievable early spring weather, get outdoors, and as my dad says, “keep those cards and letters (emails) comin’.”
Internship Spotlight
During Winter quarter, ten students are interned with public, non-profit, and commercial agencies. A sampling of the internships includes:
Megan Scarrone headed back to her hometown of Bakersfield to intern as the Special Events Coordinator for the Bakersfield Condors Hockey Team. Among the events that she was responsible for coordinating was the annual ìTip-A-Condorî dinner and auction where the players hung-up their skates for the night and tested out their skills as waiters for tips to be donated to local charities.
In order to gain experience in event planning and public relations, Pat Tugend selected to intern with San Luis Obispo Downtown Association. In addition to assisting with the Thursday Farmers' Market, Pat has been involved with the band recruitment for the summer concerts to be held in the Mission Plaza. If you're in SLO this summer, be sure to attend the free Friday night concerts.
Once again, one of our students interned with the special event department for the Pebble Beach Company. Jennifer Gregoire assisted with the planning of the 2007 AT&T National Pro-Am Golf Tournament held in February.
If you have information about a possible internship opportunity, contact Cynthia Moyer, Internship Coordinator at cmoyer@calpoly.edu or 805-756-2059.
CPRS Abstracts
Several senior projects and research papers will be presented at the CPRS conference in Sacramento . Presenters include undergraduate students Amanda Willson, Erica R. Francis, Chelsea S. Endicott, and Nicole A. Adams, and graduate students Tiyanya Anna Nourbakhsh, Sara Cohn and Sheridan Bohlken. Below you will find a brief description of each of the student's projects.
Willson's study was done to assess membership at USA WaterSki, Inc. by examining interest and motivation of recreational skiers and satisfaction of competitive skiers. The results showed that recreational skiers motivational factors were to experience family togetherness, exercise, and social contact when they participated in water skiing. USA WaterSki can serve its members better by offering services that the members value and are not offered elsewhere.
Francis examined the Leave No Trace (LNT) philosophy of the Poly Escapes program at California Polytechnic State University, a student-led outdoor program operated by the Associated Students, Inc. that provides outdoor recreation experiences for students. LNT principles are an effort to minimize impacts from outdoor recreational activities and visitor behavior. The purpose of this study was to determine if a LNT manual created for trip leaders increased their competency in teaching LNT principles.
Endicott used an importance-performance analysis as a survey research technique to evaluate visitor services and marketing within parks and recreation settings in order to examine visitor satisfaction and important attributes at Calaveras Big Trees State Park. The park is a unit of the California State Park System and offers a variety of outdoor activities including, but not limited to, interpretive programs, camping, hiking, and historical exhibits.
Nourbakhsh's study presents a conceptual approach to specialization that incorporates a behavioral component from a perspective of female surfers. Specialization has been extended in Nourbakhsh's paper with a conceptualization that recognizes surfing as a unique social world, a female's perspective on leisure, and the behavioral intentions of female surfers.
Adams study was performed to conduct an importance-performance evaluation of the Yolo County YMCA to determine parent satisfaction with the current childcare programs. The results indicate that the parents are highly satisfied with the current childcare programs at the Yolo County YMCA .
Cohn's study was performed to analyze narrative responses from the comments of visitors to the Big Sur region. The narrative responses that Cohn found in her research through surveys provide a rich dataset; useful for USFS and California State Park managers responsible for managing a vast, and diverse ecological region that comprises a complex wildland-urban interface.
Bohlken conducted a study on Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area, the only off-highway vehicle area in the state of California located on a beach. The purpose of this preliminary analysis of data was to describe the characteristics of visitors to Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area and to determine the visitors' expenditures within the county and local communities.
Kevin J. Gonzalez
MBA - Santa Clara University
Kevin Gonzalez is currently working as Senior Development Officer at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. He works on fundraising from alumni, corporations, law firms, foundations and community members. He is also on special events as an advisor (and instigator), and to gain sponsorships. He still plays soccer and ice hockey a few days a week. Kevin is married and has 2 daughters, Kaitlin (4) and Kendall (1).
Kevin graduated in the class of '95. He created his own minor in Special Event Marketing and Planning. He took all of the harder options in the business school (eg. 221/222, instead of 211) because he wanted to have the same foundation as those running a business.
He originally chose to be a Rec major to follow in his brother's footsteps, and because of his interest in sports. He never thought of it from an ìEvent Planningî standpoint until his second year at Cal Poly, Kevin said that ìturns out, I had been involved in planning events since I got to high school, and even while I worked at Rec Sports. I just never thought about it as a career choice.î
Jobs since graduation:
- Event Planning/Marketing internship at Laguna Seca Raceway
- Annual Fund Manager and Alumni Director at Jesuit High School , Sacramento
- Assistant, then Associate Director of Annual Giving, Santa Clara University
- Director of Alumni and Annual Giving, Law School , Santa Clara University
- Senior Development Officer, Pacific McGeorge Law School , Sacramento
Kevin has tons of good memories from his years at Cal Poly: Farmers Markets, IM Sports, Wild Flower, camping mid-winter in Yosemite, creating Krusty the Krustacean for a Special Event class at 4 a.m. the day the proposal was due, re-establishing Open House (formerly known as Poly Royal), visiting with Carolyn Shank during her office hours Ö "and our road trip to shoot a video presentation on workplace recreation programs at Lockheed was pretty hilarious (or at least doing the voice-overs afterwards)."
Kevin's membership to professional associations are: Association for Fundraising Professionals (AFP), and Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). He will also soon join the National Planned Giving Council. He joined these organizations because he was exposed to them after he got his first job. He believes that memberships certainly can open your eyes to jobs within the industry, locations where you can work, and job openings.
Kevins view of the future of REC? "I am probably a little out of touch with the ìrecreationî side other than participating in local programs. The Rec program in my city has grown immensely since I left for college due to the understanding by city planners of the importance of recreation as a major component in quality of life. Best of all, they have built parks, programs, and more with developers' funds."
Mike Nicoson
Mike graduated from Cal Poly in 1989 with a concentration/minor in Outdoor Rec & Aquatics. Mike chose to be a Rec major because he loathed the idea of an office job. Mike joined the Peace Corps after graduation and served for two years in Niger, West Africa in youth development. Currently, he is a Program Officer with a public foundation in San Francisco that focuses on children & youth services. Mike's been married for seven years, and has two kids, a boy and a girl, now ages 6 & 4, both pictured to the left.
Mike has many good memories from his years at Poly, including giving massages at the Relaxation Station for Poly Royal. Mike says that ìAs a lapsed member of CPRS I can sheepishly say there is definitely value in professional organizations, but it did not help me to land my current job.î
Mike's biggest professional accomplishment is a toss up between working for the United Nations in the former Yugoslavia and getting a book published on bicycle touring.
Mike sees a trend toward big investments, public and private, in physical fitness initiatives for youth to combat childhood obesity.
Missing in Action: I would love to reconnect with any former classmates, but especially Mark Mahoney and Heidi Mott to relive our SF to SLO Pacific Coast Highway bike tour! Please drop a line to miko@igc.org
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