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!