Mar 11, 2019
By Yue-Ching Cheng, Diploma Program Coordinator & Instructor
It’s that time of the semester where our first year’s are out in the community flexing their planning skills. In RECR 1168: Recreation Program Planning, students are grouped together and tasked to plan and execute a community program. They have to find a community willing to work with them, research community needs, plan, promote, and execute a unique, high quality recreation experience. Last week, we have already seen a Hawaii Luau Variety Show at Century House in New Westminster and the Creative of Commercial Art Show at Britannia Community Centre in Vancouver. Each event was unique and focused on the needs of the community that they were serving. A very special thanks to Kevin at the Century House and Tom at the Britannia Community Centre for supporting our students as they learn their way.
One of the biggest lessons learned from this assignment is how each community is different. Recreation Professionals cannot apply cookie-cutter programming if they wish to serve their communities well. Real needs assessments have to occur, with real dialogue with community stakeholders. Decisions based on data are crucial. Taking the time to benchmark programs and create internal and external inventories as well as asset maps helps recreation professionals utilize limited resources in the most effective way.
We have one more event happening this Thursday, 14 March at South Surrey Arts and Recreation Centre at 5:30pm. It’s a free Family Health event where participants learn about healthy choices and kids get to create crafts to remind them to be healthy every day!
See you there!
