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Alumni Profiles

Community Career Paths Alumni

Within the field of Recreation Management, one of the highest areas for employment is within Community Recreation; this includes facilities such as city community centers, YMCA, and Sports Centers. The median income for an individual working within community recreation falls between $64,000-$71,000 annually.
dana briggs
Dana
Economic Development Director
Salary: $75,000/year

She assists new and expanding businesses, works in entrepreneurial efforts within the community, maintains the employee talent pipeline, and works on creating apprentice programs. She is also an adjunct faculty member here at BYU-Idaho and teaching Program Management and online courses.

Learn more about an economic development career
mitchell dooley
Mitchell
Recreation Coordinator
Salary: $45,000/year

He works as the Recreation Coordinator. He runs all the city's youth and adult sporting programs. He also manages the fitness personnel and fitness classes, youth summer camps, and sports camps.

Learn more about a recreation coordinator career

Natural Resources Alumni

Natural resource managers are interested in facilitating outdoor recreation in natural settings. They seek to understand how people connect with nature and work to promote a sense of stewardship for the environment. Professionals in this discipline work in diverse settings ranging from wilderness to urban environments.
cindy
Cindy
Education Coordinator
Salary: $42,000

Cindy is the Education Coordinator for an all-boys therapeutic boarding school. She helps to communicate the education process to the students and stake holders including parents, therapists, and staff members. She helps these young men to achieve their academic goals. As there are many students who have either high functioning Asperger's or autism, she helps to break down the big picture from them and teach them in a way they can better understand.

Learn more about being an education coordinator
lynnette
Lynnette
Park Ranger
Salary: $27,000 ¾ time

Lynnette is in charge of creating a calendar of events for the summer and winter seasons. She helps build interpretive programs, coordinates special events, and works with outside partnerships. She also does all the marketing and management of social media for the park, as well as volunteer coordination.

Learn more about becoming a park ranger

Commercial Recreation Management Alumni

Commercial Recreation management is recreation-related products or services by private enterprise for a fee, with the long-term intent of being profitable.
rob
Rob
Director of Outdoor Activities
Salary: $60,000

Rob oversees and manages all outdoor adventure programs, the rock climbing wall, ropes course, as well as the equipment rentals shop. He leads or manages over 100 outdoor trips every year.

Learn more about being an activities director
dan
Dan
United States Olympic Committee
Salary: $62,000

Dan is in charge of the Paralympic athlete pipeline development program. He utilizes the partnerships he builds to help athletes to get engaged in sports, get involved in consistent program training, and helps people to receive classification. Dan also works on athlete identification and development to determine Paralympic eligibility. He strives to promote awareness, helping others to realize they can participate in sports despite impairments.

Learn more about paralympic sports development

Therapeutic Recreation Alumni

Therapeutic Recreation (TR) is one of the fastest growing health-related professions. A Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS) can serve individuals with developmental, mental, and physical disabilities. The program allows students the opportunity to become certified by the National Council on Therapeutic Recreation Certification (NCTRC) as well as provides hands-on experience.
elicia schwendiman
Elicia
Therapeutic Recreation Specialist
Salary: $30,000/year (increases with experience)

As a TR Specialist working at a treatment center, she creates and implements group and individual tasks to meet the needs of the teens. As part of this, she plans an adventure program that the kids can go through. She is over the patients who have high functioning autism. She helps them by creating activities to build their sense of teamwork, communication, social skills, and mood management.

Learn more about being a recreational therapist
kelsi
Kelsi
Recreation Therapist
Salary: $60,886-$74,205

Kelsi works as a Recreation Therapist to medical foster home patients and veterans who want to be independent but still need a caregiver. She assesses, plans, and implements treatment for hospice patients to provide end-of-life comfort care.

Learn more about recreation therapy