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One more week until the Soaring to New Heights Conference!

One more week until the Soaring to New Heights Conference! There are so many aspects of conference I am looking forward to this year. One of which is our Sponsor a Student Program at the Annual Awards Luncheon at conference. Today’s newsletter article features the student IPRA is sponsoring at our table this year, Lukas Wyss from the University of St. Francis.

The Sponsor a Student Program started last year. It is a way for students to attend the luncheon for free and a way for agencies to have a student join their table at NO expense to the agency. This is not a program where an agency buys lunch for a student. It is instead a way for agencies to donate their time and attention to a student during the event. Students will be assigned to agencies who signed up for the program and we let the students and agencies know who they are matched with in advance. We hope that as you share your table together, you will take the opportunity to introduce your sponsored student around to your peers, commissioners, and friends. We want it to be a special opportunity for students to network with professionals in the field at a very high level. Further, my goal has always been that by sharing the luncheon with current college students, that they will see those people who are being honored in our field for their work and the students will be inspired to do the best they can do in their careers and to stay in parks and recreation in the early days of their career when finding the right path is challenging. Thank you to everyone who has selected this opportunity to Sponsor a Student.

Each of the last two years, in my travels around the state, meeting with different schools, I choose to select a special student to honor as IPRA’s Sponsored Student. Last year it was Torri Withrow, a student at SIU-Carbondale. This year, I selected Lukas Wyss, a junior at University of St. Francis in Joliet.

I met Lukas when about a dozen other park and recreation professionals and I were visiting his class doing mock interviews. As the other professionals and I were talking before the class, reviewing who we were assigned to meet with, the discussion moved to Lukas. In fact, every single professional in the room (including me) already had some kind of connection to him. I hadn’t met him yet, but I’d heard of him. Most others had already worked with him in some capacity. That is amazing networking skills for a junior in college!

When I met Lukas, he continued to impress me. He is bound and determined to become an Executive Director at a park district at some point in his career and after speaking with him, I believe he WILL meet his goal!

Lukas grew up in Colorado which sparked his love for the outdoors and recreation. His mother worked in parks and recreation and started educating him on how park districts and recreation departments function. During his time at St Francis, he has completed a marketing and communications internship with the local recreation department, as well as completing 50 hours of field work with the Lisle Park District. He was recently hired in a part time capacity at Joliet Park District. He states, "With continued dedication, education, and love for recreation I will seek new and existing trends in the field of recreation to provide optimal experiences for all participants, in order to one day become an executive director."

What an honor it is for me to sponsor Lukas at the Annual Awards Luncheon as IPRA’s Sponsored Student. I look forward to meeting all the other students who will have this opportunity. I hope that the agencies sponsoring them will be able to give their students some special attention too. This is a great way to invest in the future of our field.

See you all at conference!

Debbie Trueblood, CAE
Executive Director
Illinois Park & Recreation Association

536 East Avenue, LaGrange, IL 60525 | Phone: 708-588-2280 | Fax : 708-354-0535