I made it to 15!!!!!!!!!!

Whew!  Finally wrapping up this blog business.  Don't get me wrong, it's been delightful to read about all of the exciting internship adventures, but it feels good to mark one more thing off the 'Countdown to Graduation' list.  It's sort of hard to believe that my Decade of Learning is finally coming to an end.  I mean, I didn't intend for it to take 10 years to get a degree, but if there's one thing I've learned over the years, things don't always (or should I say - hardly ever!) go the way we plan.  I can't complain, though.  Wherever my road has led, I've had a blast and met so many wonderful people (like each of you!!) and experienced many wonderful things.  

So from here, I don't really know what I'm going to do.  All I know is that I love the adventure of living and serving and I truly believe God has a plan for each of us and that plan is played out day to day.  I hope no matter what I do or where I go, following Christ will be my top priority. Where I work, how much money I make, do I own, do I rent, do I have a cool car, do I get promoted, do I get laid off (again!), those things are all just details that I'm not going to stress. I want to live and embrace every moment and I pray you all do the same.  Life is way too short to sweat the small stuff and live only for material gain and personal promotion.  Do something for someone else everyday.  You'll be glad you did!  

Good luck to everyone.  You have truly accomplished something amazing!    

Meeting with the Boss

I'm wrapping up my first week of unemployment!  It's hard to believe how fast my internship went.  I had a great time, but it has been so nice to relax and catch up with friends, errands, and sleep.  Most interesting of my catching up was the accomplishment of a homework assignment that required me to interview a high level manager.  Ironically, I managed to get an appointment with Becky Benna, Director of Glendale Parks & Rec.  She was very gracious to spend about 30 minutes with me discussing her position and responsibilities.  We covered a lot of ground in those few short minutes and I am glad to have had the chance to meet with her.  I thought it was great to get her perspective on what I had been working in for the last few months.  I loved when she talked about what she loves most about her job.  She absolutely lit up like a kid on Christmas morning explaining how it's seeing the fruit of the organization's labor that keeps her going.  She loves seeing kids getting to participate in activities that they usually wouldn't get to even try.  She loves her job.  It was easy to see.  I don't know if I will be a parks and rec lifer, but whatever I do, I hope I light up when I tell someone about what I do.  That's pretty priceless.  :)   

Some of the nicest people...

I can't remember if I've mentioned this before, but my favorite thing about my internship is getting to meet some of the nicest people.  First of all, they gave me the opportunity to intern with them.  Training, helping, guiding, and teaching an intern takes time.  Many of the people I have been working with took seriously the responsibility to impart their wisdom and experience to me.  Collectively, they have years in the field and I am so grateful that they have share their knowledge with me.  

But even more than professionally, I appreciate their investment in me personally.  They have really been so kind.  I mean, most recreation people tend to have a fun streak and I have thoroughly enjoyed the funness (is that a word??) of my internship.  It has been great to get to know my co-workers and learn about their lives.  It's funny how life brings people together and how we cross each others' paths and impact each others' lives even if only for a short time.    

Plan of Action

So I had my site visit with Sara last week.  It went well.  Afterwards, I was working on my "Action Plan" assignment.  One of my topics was my plan for after graduation and I have to admit - my plan has changed in the recent months, mostly due to the lack of job opportunities.  I don't know about you guys, but I'm looking for jobs everyday and not finding an abundance of opportunities that interest me.  I feel like I'm going to end up settling for something just to pay the bills, which will be ok for a while.  Hopefully things will turn around soon.  :) 

So much to say!

Things keep coming up that I think I should blog about but I forget or I don't have time right away so I'm going to write about a couple of random things today.  Cool?  Cool.  

My first incident report.  I was working in the Turtle Club (the facility day care room) as I do every Friday morning.  The kids and I were having a good old time and one of the kids started pushing this little red plastic wagon.  He wasn't really doing anything wrong - he just tripped on the carpet and whacked his chin on the ground.  He ended up with a bump and a yucky rug burn.  Since I had other kids, I called one of the managers to help me take care of him.  We got him an ice pack and within a few minutes he was fine and ready to play again.  So, not a huge deal, but since we gave him treatment (the ice pack) we had to fill out a report.  Fortunately the form is very short and didn't take to long to fill out.  Best of all...little guy turned out to be ok.

Family Fun Night.  This an annual event happened last Friday night.  It is a low-cost event that allows families to play together at the rec center.  They could climb the rock wall, play pool, air hockey, ping-pong, basketball, volleyball, eat snacks, color, and play a variety of board games.  Overall, the families seemed to have a good time and many people expressed appreciation for the fun, low-cost event.   I thought it was great to see families having fun together and I think that it would work as a regular event.  Maybe not every week or even every month, but more than once a year would be fun!     

That's all for this post.  I have to save some things for future posts even though I'm sure everybody reading this wishes I would go on and on and on and on and.....     

On Second Thought...

I decided to make a 2nd post tonight.  I wanted to talk about spring break week, which I did in my previous post. However, I also worked at the Folk and Heritage Festival all day on Saturday.  This was an old timey kind of event at Sahuaro Ranch Park in Glendale.  I was assigned to the kids crafts booth where we helped kids may horse-sickles (check out my horse-sickle in the pic!) and necklaces.  These were simple crafts that were fun for the kids and parents!  Mostly the kids could do them on their own, but I got to help a few with cutting and finding particular pieces to add to their necklaces.  

Overall it was a good day.  It was pretty toasty outside but we were under a canopy and there was a cool breeze.  It wasn't terribly busy so we were able to take breaks, which was nice because that gave me time to make it over to the "real" bathrooms rather than having to use the stinky port-a-potties.  Ick!  I hate those things!  So small and really, even their magic chemicals don't cover the stench, especially when it's nearly 90 degrees!  I digress...

Spring Break!!

Well, first of all, my spring break was great!  I went to Missouri and Kentucky to visit friends and family.  I had a blast and was a little sad to have to come back to AZ, but I'm done being sad and I'm ready to get this semester finished up.  

Ironically, this blog post is not about my spring break, but rather I'm writing about Deer Valley School District spring break.  "Why?" you may ask...well...let me tell you!  DV High School is just down the street from FRAC (my internship site) so many of their students visit us on a regular basis.  Since it was spring break last week, we had LOTS of kids roaming FRAC all week.  As one might expect, the kids tend to sleep in and then make their way to the fitness center sometime after noon.  Most of the ones who came last week were boys coming to play basketball in the gym.  Others hung out in the activity room and lobby. Occasionally, some end up "hanging out" behind the center and we have to go crash their kissy kissy party!  

The great part about this week is I got to see the full-time coordinators and programmers sharing the increased need for facility supervision.  Everybody was sharing time in the different programming areas making sure people were following the rules and being safe.  It's a good reminder that no matter how big your job is, if you work at a rec center, at some point in time, you'll end up in the gym yelling at people to stop hanging on the rim.  Honestly, I think the coordinators and programmers like to get out of the office and mix up their day a bit. 

Another great thing about spring break week was that I got meet employees from other Glendale P&R sites who came in to help manage the crowds.  While we worked together, I learned about their sites and programs.  There's some pretty cool stuff going on in Glendale Parks and Rec!  

Overall, I'd say it was a great week!  :)

Monday was Hump-day!

I am pleased to announce that on Monday around 1:30pm, I passed the halfway point of my internship.  Time flies when you're having fun, right!  When I get back from spring break, I'll be plowing head first into preparing a promotional packet to try to sell advertising space on the wristbands distributed to swimmers over the summer.  With the budget cuts, everyone's trying to think of creative ways to generate funds.  Selling ad space around the center is definitely a hot topic.  I'll get to work with various managers and marketing people in Glendale P & R to learn how to put this project together and hopefully score a customer before the end of my internship!  We'll see!!!!

The Weinermobile strikes again!

Glendale Parks and Rec does the Touch a Truck event annually.  This is a pretty cool event!!  For a few hours on a Saturday, a bunch of big trucks go to Glendale Community College parking lot.  There was a wide variety of trucks like fire trucks, tow trucks, UPS truck, police cars, various city maintenance trucks, and even the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile!  Guests can sit in the trucks and, of course, honk the horns.  (I wasn't prepared for all of the honking!  4 long hours of honking.  Whao.)  The best part about the event was that it was free of charge!  It was a beautiful day and lots of people made it out for this unique event.  

I was pleased to get to help set up and clean up as well as work while the event was happening.  I think it's interesting to see events liked this come together and then get put away like it never even happened!  I especially like to see how people work together to accomplish a common goal.  Never ceases to amaze me!   And, I got a little bit of a sunburn!  Nothing like getting started on the summer tan in February!  

Road Trip!

This past week I got to go on a (short) road trip to Glendale City Hall to observe a budget meeting with the Parks and Rec Deputy Directory.  And actually, the Director of Parks and Rec was in attendance to share what she knew about budget cuts and the new voluntary furlough program implemented by the City Manager.  The meeting was short and somewhat informative.  Mostly the word was, 'when we know something new, we'll tell you.'  

So it is what it is I suppose.  But I continue to be disappointed to be in the pinch of budget cuts causing much of the focus to be on how to squeeze more money out of participants rather than creating and continuing excellent programming.  I'm really not trying to critized, because without cuts and increased fees, NO programming will exist.  And it's not just at my facility, but all over.  And it certainly isn't just a Parks and Recs issue.  It's everywhere.  Everyone is struggling.

So enough about the budget and back to the road trip.  It was fun to ride along with the gang.  They are fun and I enjoy being around them.  We laughed quite a bit and they continue to take advantage of 'teachable moments' with me and are great about sharing the history of different policies and activities.  I feel blessed to get to be part of their team for a while.      

Ugg...

I can't lie.  I'm worn out and it's not even Monday yet! Internship, classes, family visiting last weekend, and church camp this weekend has wiped me out and occupied much of the time I would like to be sleeping or doing homework.  But, that's life, right!  Roll with it and make the best of what I've got.  I'm on it.  Hope you all have a great week!     

Customer Service

As some of you know, Glendale Parks and Rec is working toward its accreditation.  I don't know all of the details, but from what I've heard and seen, the accreditation process is extremely detailed and very labor intensive.  It seems like nearly every employee is involved in the process in some way. This cool because people from different departments are collaborating to accomplish one big goal.  When they get their accreditation, everyone should feel a great sense of accomplishment.  If it weren't for the massive budget cuts, I'm sure they'd throw a big party! 

Personally, I have not been nor will I be officially assigned to any of the accreditation working groups.  However, I have been attending the Customer Service group with one of my supervisors, Jackie. This group consists of people from several different areas of Glendale P&R.  They are working to create customer service policies, guidelines, and training materials about the importance of maintaining a very high standard of customer service.  It's great to see each of them contributing their ideas and offering to use their individual abilities and experiences to help the group achieve its goals.  

I have been able to contribute by looking up YouTube videos.  The idea is to embed some fun customer service clips into the training video to help make it more interesting for viewers.  I found a couple of good ones.  I attached two to this blog for your viewing pleasure.  :)  I was also assigned to help write the script for one of the 7 main training points.  I finished my assignments today and turned them in to Jackie.  I'm sure we'll do quite a bit of revising before we submit the final product, but I feel confident it's going to be great! 

So that's it.  GO CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!

Videos:  One is good service and the other is not-so-good service.  You be the judge!

What in the world is 'lapidary'?

Everyday, there's something new happening at the Rec Center.  Of course there are the same ol' day to day things like keeping the place tidy and running short errands here and there.  However, I'm confident that I have learned or experienced something new every day of my internship so far.  I suppose this is pretty much the point of an internship so I shouldn't be surprised, but it's still fascinating to me.  Even the simple, little things are fun, new adventures.  For instance, today I learned how to transfer calls.  So simple and yet so helpful! It's a little thing that helps me have more confidence when doing my job.  

I also got to take a field trip to the Glendale Adult Center.  This, as the name implies, is a recreation center for adults.  I went with Lori, who works in my facility, but organizes all Special Interest Classes for the entire City of Glendale Parks & Rec Department.  She had to check on some things at the Adult Center and invited my to tag along.  She introduced me to several people and took me on a tour of the facility.  It was crazy!  There were so many people just hanging out playing cards, shooting pool, playing shuffleboard, chillin' in the computer lab, and even practicing dance.  I never would have thought there would be so many people there.  And then...we went into the Lapidary room.  I'm pretty sure I had never even hear the word 'lapidary' before today, but one of the lead guys explained that lapidary is all about engraving and cutting gems.  They take glass and rough gems and turn them into pretty, shiny stones for jewelry and other things.  It's really amazing!  I think it would be so great to get to take the time to make a ring or something someday.  We'll see.  

And, while learning new words and how to transfer calls was great, I think the best thing I took home from this day was a first-hand observation of the importance of recreation facilities.  It really was great to see so many people utilizing the Adult Center.  There were so many smiles and so much laughter around me when I was there.  I don't intend to make assumptions about the lives of the people who were there, but I can't help but to think that their lives are enhanced by their participation in recreation activities.  It's great for people to have a place to go to socialize, challenge their skills and knowledge, and learn new things.  I close with sad thoughts of how our poor economy threatens such facilities and organizations.  I hate to think about those people not having such a special place to go.     

I Love Guts!

Ok, so yesterday was a great day on the job.  It may sound a little shady, but honestly, the best part of the day was getting to see the 'guts' of the building.  I love big pieces of equipment and learning how they work so, when I'm in the presence of cable TV, I thoroughly enjoy shows like How It's Made on the Discovery Channel and Modern Marvels on the History Channel. Unfortunately, I'm too cheap to pay for cable so I don't get to seem them much. However, I digress.  Getting to see the heavy duty equipment that keeps the facility going was fun.  They have very large evap coolers, which provide the pleasantly cool temperature in the building.  I also got to see the big water heaters.  I learned that the Center has a separate water heater for the Teaching Kitchen because the water needs to be set at 140 degrees for sanitation reasons. This is a little toasty for folks taking showers so the water heaters supplying water to locker rooms and restrooms are set at a lower temperature.  

Foothills also has a heated lap pool outside.  The water for the pool passes through a large boiler and is sent back to the pool to keep the pool at a comfortable temperature so guests may swim all year long.  The crummy thing about the heated pool is the gas used to operate the boiler costs thousands of dollars each month through the fall, winter, and spring.  In an effort to reduce this cost, the Center purchased a (very expensive) pool cover to help keep the heat in.  Just yesterday, the staff was discussing how the pool cover has saved the Center so much money, it's already paid for itself and more.  Whoever came up with that idea ought to get a big pat on the back!

Finally, though it has nothing to do with 'guts', my other favorite thing about yesterday was that I got to give tours to people interested in learning about the Center.  I really enjoy giving tours.  I like to meet new people, find out what they're interested in, and give them great customer service.   The entire staff shares the responsibility of giving tours and I have already been on a tour with nearly every full-time staff member.  Each adds a personal touch and does their best to promote the facility.  I will be happy to continue contributing by helping with tours, too.  

I did many other wonderful things yesterday, but I suppose I'll save them for another blog.  :) 

  

Let's Get This Party Started!!

Today was Day #1 of my internship at Foothills Recreation and Aquatics Center (see photo!), a facility of Glendale Parks and Recreation Department.  I have been a little nervous the last few days as I anticipated starting today, but once I got to my site, things just started rolling and my nervousness, for the most part, went away.  

I knew going into my internship that I would be working in a variety of areas.  Today by itself held much variety.  I started by learning about the history of the facility.  It was interesting to hear how the current staff had so much to do with the design and construction of the facility.  I could see how their history with the organization gave them pride in its current operation.

Next, I spent time at the front desk.  I read through a great deal of information and observed many different transactions.  I was impressed with how well the front desk crew knew the customers.  It was easy to see how the people coming to work out enjoyed being greeted by name.  

Finally, I spent the rest of the day working on a research project.  The Special Interest Class coordinator is interested in learning how area cities contract and pay instructors.  I spent a great deal of the afternoon tracking down coordinators from surrounding cities and interviewing them with a series of questions.  Over the next day or so I will be compiling my findings and reporting to the coordinator at Foothills.  

Then I went home.  Hungary.  Tired.  Ready to do it again.