IPRA Today
Illinois Park and Recreation
NEWS YOU CAN USE
Please click here to view photos from the event. To receive a copy of any of the pictures taken during the event, please contact Matt Fairbanks or call 708.588.2286.
Congratulations to our Joint Section Award winners!
Professional of the Year
- Park & Natural Resource Management Section: Jesse Felix
- Administration & Finance Section: Nancy McCaul
- Communication & Marketing Section: Jessica Cannaday
- Recreation Section: Sue McDougle
- Therapeutic Recreation Section: Julie Clasen
- Ethnic Minority Section: Oralethea Davenport
- Facility Management Section: Scott McClaskey
Rising Star Awards
- Communication & Marketing Section: Theresa Kiel
- Therapeutic Recreation Section: Melissa Jensen
- Ethnic Minority Section: Keely Lewis-Childress
- Administration & Finance Section: Jennifer Papocki
- Facility Management Section: John Chase
- Recreation Section: Stacy LaFortune
A&F Distinguished Service Award
C&M Vision Award
Facility Manager of the Year Award
Recreation Section Marcy Adams Spirit Award
This year IPRA is offering three ways to renew your membership. You can renew your own membership online, you can renew your staff memberships online, or you can print the invoice and send the payment via fax or mail.
- Begin by logging onto the IPRA website at www.ilipra.org. If you have never logged on to the website, your user name is your email address (all lower case) and your password is "ipra" (all lower case).
- On your profile page, you can view your contact information, pay open invoices, view our event calendar and read news updates. Scroll to the bottom of the screen under Accounting Information. In the Accounting Information section you can view your renewal quote for membership renewal (or any open purchase orders). You can click on the invoice and proceed to the payment screen.
- If you want to pay renewals or invoices for additional staff, click on the "view organization" icon which is located under your name and photo. From your agency profile, scroll to the bottom of the screen to the Accounting Information section. Click on the box that reads show related invoices. You can select to pay all renewals or select specific memberships to renew.
- In order to view and pay agency invoices, you must be logged into the site as a member. If you have an employee who will be managing online renewals and he is not a member, we suggest that he login under a member’s account and view and pay the agency open invoices from their profile.
It’s the perfect opportunity to highlight your agency and its visual images while showcasing your photography skills. Winning entries will be published in Illinois Parks & Recreation magazine and displayed as part of a special showcase at the IAPD/IPRA Conference in Chicago this January. There is a limit of five entries per category. Photographs will be judged on the basis of exposure, clarity/focus and subject matter relative to category.
Please read contest rules and return the signed waiver with your submission. Deadline to submit photos is Dec. 3, so email your entry today!
CONFERENCE
• Rooms are reserved on a first-come, first-served basis.
• The cut-off date for reservations is Jan. 2, 2013. Reservations made after this date may pay a higher rate and are subject to availability.
• One night’s room and tax advance deposit by check or credit card must accompany each reservation. This deposit is fully refundable before Dec. 17, 2012. After Dec. 17, there will be no refunds for canceled rooms. The Joint Conference Committee implemented this policy in 1999 due to the high rate of rooms canceled at the last minute.
Suites
IAPD member agencies or IPRA members interested in reserving a suite must contact Dina Kartch at IPRA first at dina@ilipra.org. Once IPRA has given approval, you will be put in contact with the Hyatt directly. Exhibitors interested in reserving a suite must contact Sue Triphahn at IAPD first at striphahn@ilparks.org. Once IAPD has given approval, you will be put in contact with the Hyatt directly.
Part of our commitment to the profession is ensuring that future and current park and recreation professionals have the tools they need to be successful. Each year, we hold a Silent Auction at the IAPD/IPRA Annual Soaring to New Heights Conference to provide support and funding for educational programming, research that will benefit the Illinois Park and Recreation Association and its members, and to provide funding support for professional development for students studying parks and recreation within the state of Illinois.
You can help us reach our goal by donating a gift or service to our Silent Auction 2013. All donations are tax deductible—IPRF is a 501-C-3 organization—and we will also accept monetary gifts. More than 4,000 park and recreation professionals, commissioners and exhibitors will have the opportunity to bid on your donation at the conference.
To make a donation, please complete this online form by Friday, Nov. 30, 2012. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 708-588-2282 or heather@ilipra.org. Thank you for your consideration.
JOB OPPORTUNITIES
Here are some of the most recent job posts. To view the complete listing, click here!
- Performing Arts Supervisor, Northbrook Park District
- Part-Time Adult Center Supervisor, Elk Grove Park District
- Information Systems Technician, Addison Park District
- Park Specialist II - Riverwalk, Naperville Park District
- Marketing Communications Assistant, Fox Valley Park District
NEWS ABOUT MEMBERS
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Holly Cabel, Superintendent of Recreation 630-513-6200
It’s true that childhood obesity is a national epidemic. But it’s also true that it’s one that can be stopped through the use of three little words: "Go!", "Slow!" and "Whoa!"
These words lie at the heart of an innovative new program called CATCH—Coordinated Approach to Child Health—that has been introduced into the St. Charles Park District’s Early Childhood curriculum this fall. Part of a dynamic partnership between the Park District and Cadence Health, this pilot program targets children from 2 to 5 years of age by teaching them that fruit can be fun, that veggies are our friends, and that moving around is way cooler than sitting still.
"This is a wonderful opportunity for us and we’re very enthusiastic about it," says Krista Mulready, Early Childhood, Preschool and Day Camp Supervisor. As an outcome of Kane County’s "Fit for Kids" campaign, the Park District was approached by representatives of Cadence Health in the spring of 2011 and asked to run the CATCH early childhood pilot program for Kane County. Through CATCH, about two hundred children and their families will learn about healthful eating practices and how to increase their opportunities for moderate to vigorous physical activity in both school and home settings.
Supported by colorful posters showing types of healthy foods, combination educational/exercise activities such as "All Aboard the Veggie Train," and language skill lessons featuring characters such as "Tommy the Tomato," children are introduced to the wide range of foods that are good to eat. They learn to refer to them as "Go!" foods, such as apples and broccoli that are good to eat anytime; and "Whoa!" foods, things like cupcakes and French fries that should be consumed only once in awhile; or "Slow" foods, ones that can be eaten very sparingly, like butter added to a muffin or canned fruits packed in syrup. Through this type of positive reinforcement and fun, entertaining activities, children eagerly accept such new information and are more apt to adopt healthy habits.
"The kids have really jumped into the program," says Mulready, who adds that parents are also supporting the program by providing their children with healthy snacks. Using CATCH materials as well as information developed by Cadence Health dieticians, the Park District encourages parent participation by offering easy-to-follow guidelines about the types and sizes of snacks and beverages that support the curriculum. "We’re seeing more fresh fruits and vegetables now," says Mulready.
And because exercise is a key element in any wellness program, children are encouraged to move around frequently during classroom sessions. Instructors motivate children to vigorously pump their arms when they talk about "Go!" foods and just as enthusiastically push their arms away when they talk about "Whoa!" foods. This helps the visual learner as well as the auditory learner and simultaneously introduces movement into the lesson plan.
In the same fashion, activity is initiated from the time children walk in the door. Instead of sitting on the sidelines waiting for a class to begin, children are prompted to march around the classroom, swinging their arms and clapping their hands. According to Mulready, the main goal is to keep them moving.
"We tell children than when we move our bodies, our hearts beat faster, so we say that our hearts are clapping for us," says Mulready. "Like ‘Go!’, ‘Slow!’ and ‘Whoa!’, the terminology is very age-appropriate. "When the crisis of childhood obesity came to the attention of Cadence Health officials through their participation in the Community Health Needs Assessment survey, which was undertaken in conjunction with the Kane County Health Department and other healthcare and not-for-profit service agencies, Cadence Health officials investigated a number of established programs designed to combat childhood obesity.
Originally part of a nationwide trial/study sponsored by the National Education Program and administered by the National Institutes of Health between 1991 and 1994, the CATCH program was the largest school-based health promotion study ever conducted in the United States, with more than 5,000 third graders from California, Louisiana, Minnesota and Texas participating.
"CATCH stood out because of its growth potential to start with early childhood," says Shannon McCall, Community Health & Outreach Youth Services & Injury Prevention Specialist for Cadence Health. "This is the age when parents are looking for direction and need help sorting out all the information that’s out there."
McCall underwent an intensive, three-day CATCH "train the trainer" certification program and passed on this knowledge to Park District staff responsible for early childhood programs for 2-, 3-, 4- and 5-year- olds that take place at both the Pottawatomie Community Center and Hickory Knolls Discovery Center. "We worked with the Park District programs and trained their teachers on how to present the curriculum and incorporate it into the classroom," says McCall.
"We provided scripting so that everyone is speaking the same language so that from the time kids enter programs at 2 years of age to the point when they graduate from the programs, they’ve been hearing the same message all along the way."
"We have 10 instructors certified in CATCH training," says Mulready. Cadence Health provided the Park District with CATCH curriculum materials that include an activity box with more than 400 structured lesson plans.
Lessons cover everything from nutrition—what a vitamin is and why is it important, for instance—to gardening—how plants grow and where our food comes from. "This is a wonderful fit with the nature preschool’s emphasis," says McCall. A fitness component serves as a mini gym class, with activities that focus on everything from flexibility to endurance.
The program has been enthusiastically welcomed, not only by Park District staff, but by children and their families. "I’ve had a parent tell me that her son pumps his arms at the dinner table when she serves vegetables because he knows they are "Go!" foods," says McCall. "It has been so exciting to see everyone wholeheartedly embracing this program."
For more information about the CATCH-Early Childhood curriculum and programs, contact Krista Mulready at 630-513-4326 or visit the Park District’s website at www.stcparks.org.
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