Getting “Green”horns Started

Educating upcoming professionals

By Brendan Daley and June Shingles

In the profession of parks, recreation and leisure services, creating, implementing and evaluating programs are the primary tasks. The scope of work is ever-changing, and now includes many non-traditional services. Further, agencies must modernize their mission statements and goals to capture the unique needs of culturally diverse communities. Finally, educating the public on the importance of sustainability and its place in the community is now considered essential.

Preparing A New Generation

Nationally and locally, recreation associations are addressing the needs of staff by providing continuing-education units through workshops and seminars. Through these opportunities, administrative staff can learn how to address sustainability issues, “green” facilities and, most importantly, overhauling annual budgets to coincide with agency mission statements and goals.

The commitment to education involves today’s students who will become tomorrow’s employees. Research demonstrates that students who learn in the field gain greater command of the subjects and also enjoy their time learning. Historically, the classroom has been the center of career education but this is changing. In today’s highly competitive global economy, employee performance is determined by knowledge, skills and continued professional development. Students can be assisted by offering them quality field experiences and productive internships. That desirable first job can then be offered to an experienced and enthusiastic recruit.

For today’s candidates to enter the profession prepared and marketable, they’ll need a more diversified experience than previous job seekers. Candidates should be rooted in people-oriented areas, such as social services and life-skills programming, as well as environmental concerns. The charge of “reconnecting youth to nature” focuses on their need to be environmental stewards with a thorough understanding of sustainability issues.

Getting Started

It is pivotal to establish new educational resources and assist undergraduates in seeking quality practicum experiences beyond what is normal to fulfill degree requirements.

Presently, there is a lack of formal curricula and few textbooks that specifically address sustainability topics for recreation students. Therefore, these majors must educate themselves outside the classroom on sustainability issues and “greening” the agencies they’ll be leading. To that end, the partnership between the Chicago Park District and Chicago State University has as a goal to develop course materials and a textbook on sustainability and “green” topics. Various park district staff serve on the university’s Recreation Department Advisory Board, and often participate as guest lecturers for various recreation courses, most recently addressing “going green” and “environmental stewardship.”

A New Concept

In 2009, the district created the Office of Green Initiatives, pulling together existing staff and resources. This agency is responsible for traditional environmental work--energy efficiency or recycling--and implementing “green” initiatives, such as climate-change planning and renewable energy. Implementing sustainable policies is done by:

1. Supporting other departments’ efforts in “going green”

2. Managing specific environmental or “green” projects or initiatives.

Preparing Tomorrow’s “Green” Leaders

In an ever-changing society, issues such as sustainability, economic conditions and technological changes must be considered in updating as well as designing new curricula. Undergraduate programs should be assessed annually in order to fit the needs of today’s employer expectations. With the globalization of various careers and education programs, it is imperative that educators continue to define what are considered realistic expectations of students preparing for entry-level jobs.

In meeting today’s employer needs, recreation graduates must demonstrate versatility, a sincere interest in their professional development and a capacity to acquire new skills and certifications separate from those of traditional parks and recreation programs. Such skills will create graduates who will work to expand the development of non-traditional recreation services, ensuring the revitalization of candidates who are prepared, marketable and sensitized to new trends in the field.

Brendan Daley, LEED AP, CPRP, is director of Green Initiatives for the Chicago Park District. He can be reached at (312) 742-4760, or via e-mail at Brendan.daley@chicagoparkdistrict.com.

Dr. June N. Shingles is an assistant professor at Chicago State University. She can be reached at (773) 995-3779, or via e-mail at Jprice24@csu.edu.