Unique Partnership Equals Broadened Understanding

It's cold outside, it's morning, it's dark and you are in a sleeping bag while camping for the first time in your life. You have never done anything like this before, and yet here you are in northern Alabama with fellow college students spending your spring break learning and experiencing the outdoor recreation activity of caving. The experience is so foreign and yet so amazing that it alters what you think you might want to do with your career and sends you in a new direction once you return home. For one student at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, IL this story was hers.

At the University of St. Francis a unique and exciting partnership has formed between the classroom and student life for Recreation and Sport Management majors. As a COAPRT Accredited program the Recreation and Sport Management major offers students a high quality education, preparing them for the recreation and sport field. But what sets these students apart from other similar majors from other programs? At the University of St. Francis students enrolled in the Recreation and Sport Management Program have the opportunity to learn in an experiential setting through a student organization known as the Recreation Club. It is this partnership that gives students the unique experiences that broaden their understanding and application of many of their classroom lessons.

The Recreation Club at USF is not the typical student organization. The goal of this organization is to give students the opportunity to experience recreation in a whole new way that they may never have known existed. Because of the urban location, USF draws many of its students from the city and local suburbs. These students often have not had the opportunity to experience the adventures available in the outdoors whether due to location or knowledge that the opportunities existed. This is where the Recreation Club comes in. During the past school year the club has done canoeing trips on the Fox River, rock climbing in Devil’s Lake, horseback riding in Tinley Park, hiking through Starved Rock State Park, and even a week of caving in Scottsboro, Alabama over Spring Break. In total, last year, the USF Recreation Club took students on more than 15 outdoor recreation activities, giving students the experiences that they would otherwise never have. These experiences have changed some of the members’ outlook on their future careers.

The experience offered by the Recreation Club goes beyond just recreational experiences to help them develop as professionals too. Last year more than 15 students in the club participated in the Illinois Park and Recreation Association’s Student Summit at the Annual Conference in Chicago, IL to help plan and organize programs through IPRA for future students. The club also participated in the Midwest Outdoor Leadership Conference held at Earlham College in Richmond, IN. There club member Sean Burke, along with club advisor Jerome Gabriel, presented on Pattern of Inquiry as a Model for Outdoor Leaders.In addition to giving presentations student attendees had the opportunity to network with professionals, other students interested in outdoor recreation, and attend sessions on topics such as leadership and program development.

The work that was done over the past year at the University of St. Francis through the Recreation Club did not go unnoticed by the University. During the annual awards dinner for Student Life the Recreation Club was awarded the Rising Club award as well as the Most Valuable Advisor award for the work Dr. Jerome Gabriel did with the club to bring it to where it is today.Laura Muñoz, Student Government President at USF explains that the award was due to "their outstanding initiative to bring back a club that had been dormant the year before. With Dr. Jerome Gabriel, and an enthusiastic executive board, the club hosted outstanding events ... [that] demonstrated their commitment to providing fun, and educational events for the students at USF [and] proved that Rec Club was more than deserving for the "Rising Club of the Year" Award."

The benefits of the partnership between the Recreation and Sport Management Program and the Recreation Club at the University of St. Francis cannot be understated. Through this partnership students gain the knowledge, skills, and the opportunity to expand them through new and unique experiences.These students graduate from USF with not only an exceptional degree, but with a lifetime of memories to be used wherever their career takes them.

 

Jerome Gabriel, Ed.D.

Assistant Professor in the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism Management

jgabriel@stfrancis.edu