Year: 2019

Chris Lehnertz, President and CEO of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, was recently honored with the Fran P. Mainella Award by the Clemson University Institute for Parks in recognition of her long-standing commitment to diversity and inclusion in our nation’s parks.

The institute presents the annual awards program, which is named for George B. Hartzog Jr., the seventh director of the National Park Service, to showcase leading figures in the field of conservation. Specific awards were named after visionary leaders that Hartzog respected and admired. Award recipients are following in Hartzog’s footsteps by making significant contributions to the management of parks and preservation of our natural, historical, and cultural heritage.

The Fran P. Mainella Award is named in appreciation of the dynamic career of Fran Mainella, the first female director of the National Park Service. The award recognizes sustained and innovative achievement by a woman in the management of America’s natural, historic and cultural heritage.

Brett Wright, dean emeritus of Clemson University’s college of behavioral, social and health sciences, presented the award to Ms. Lehnertz at a ceremony on October 22. According to Dr. Wright, Lehnertz has a passion for making parks relevant, accessible, inclusive and welcoming for all.

“Recognizing that 36 percent of our national parks are now in urban areas, Chris is committed to advancing the role these sites can play in supporting civic needs such as education and literacy, wellness and urban quality of life,” continues Dr. Wright. “She’s worked hard throughout her career to bring different perspectives, people and communities to our parks, to make these public lands and our nation as a whole, stronger and more united.”

Lehnertz has also made inclusion of the Bay Area’s more than seven million residents a focus of her new role as president and CEO of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.

“As the nonprofit partner of the National Park Service (NPS) at the GGNRA, the Parks Conservancy is committed to amplifying the park’s inclusion efforts,” she says. “I believe parks can spark powerful change. With community partners, we offer education and literacy programming, health and wellness activities, and youth leadership programs to serve our local residents.”

Lehnertz started her park career as deputy superintendent at Yellowstone National Park, later serving as the regional director for the Pacific West Region, and superintendent at both Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Grand Canyon National Park. She successfully led several complex and challenging projects and issues, and was also deeply involved in multiple strategic planning efforts, many of which have resulted in crucial park accomplishments like the addition of lands to Joshua Tree National Park, policy on the Revisiting Leopold Report (2012) for resource stewardship in the 21^st century, a modern and sustainable design for a new transcanyon waterline at Grand Canyon National Park and plans for an Inter-tribal cultural site at Desert View in Grand Canyon. She also played a role in the addition of four new units to the national park system – César E. Chávez National Monument, Honouliuli National Monument, Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, and the Manhattan Project National Historical Park.

Before her work with the NPS, Chris fulfilled her passion for protecting the natural world in posts at the US Environmental Protection Agency, the US Fish & Wildlife Service, the US Forest Service, and the Colorado Division of Wildlife. Throughout her career, she has worked to establish a people-first culture. She served five years on the NPS Safety Leadership Council, resulting in a new national system of safety designed to improve safety, health, and wellness in every park unit and for every NPS program. She has focused her career on establishing a culture of respect and inclusion in spaces where people could be safe, feel secure, and find support.

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The Clemson University Institute for Parks (CUIP) provides research, education, training, and outreach that enhances the management of the world’s parks and protected areas. It accomplishes this by providing park and protected area managers with innovative research to support science-based decision-making; and by developing current and future leaders in the park movement by providing interdisciplinary and transformative education and training programs. The Institute currently consists of 35 Fellows and 8 Scholars working on park-related research.

The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy is the primary nonprofit partner of the National Park Service (NPS) at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA). The GGNRA spans nearly 84,000 acres, preserves nationally significant cultural sites such as Alcatraz and Fort Point, and is part of the UNESCO Golden Gate Biosphere reserve that includes vital marine, coastal, and upland resources at Muir Woods, Crissy Field and the Marin Headlands.

Visit the CUIP website for more information about the George B. Hartzog, Jr. Environmental Awards program and its recipients.

Clemson youth development researcher and Associate Professor Dr. Ed Bowers has always had a natural curiosity about other people and cultures, particularly why people do what they do.

“I’ve always been interested in how people think and act in different environments and situations, and how the cultural context they live in can influence their beliefs and behaviors,” he says.

That curiosity is taking him all over the world. Over the course of his career so far, he’s visited more a dozen countries and taught in Dublin as part of an international service program, experiencing different cultures and perspectives wherever he goes.

When he visits a new place, he pays close attention to things most travelers are not likely to typically consider, such as what strengths young people need to develop in order to succeed, and how they may differ from what success may look like at home.

“It’s a habit at this point. People and our motivations are more complex than you might think,” he says. “For example, if you’re living in a remote area without ready access to core services such as education, health care or transportation, you’re going to see different measures of success than someone who is living in a major urban center.”

Dr. Bowers carries that curiosity to his research, which asks similar questions, but through a focus on positive youth development, and how youth-adult relationships can influence what goes right in the lives of children and adolescents. His work helps us figure out what every parent asks themselves at some point – why did my child do that? And do they have the characteristics and support they need to be successful in life?

His research also focuses on the strengths of youth, instead of negative behaviors. Bowers says this is because even though there is a widespread belief that the teen years are marked by ‘storm and stress,’ most teenagers are actually doing relatively well.

“Youth do make bad decisions, and there are reasons for that, but they also give to charities, care about people, and have sympathy and empathy for others,” he says. “Teenagers can contribute in positive ways to their communities. Building on these youth strengths rather than focusing on their deficits is a more effective way to promote thriving in young people.”

In 2015, Dr. Bowers and several of his academic colleagues explored measures that can help define positive skills and growth in a book they edited together about promoting positive youth development. The book shares a model that people working in positive youth development commonly use to measure a child’s strengths, called the Five Cs – competence, confidence, caring, compassion and character.

Dr. Bowers helped contribute to that model by examining youth responses from across the country to create a measure focused on what a thriving teenager looks like in a community, asking questions about skills or things that they do that demonstrate success.

Character, for example, can be measured by doing the right thing, having integrity and valuing diversity. Caring, on the other hand, is assessed by whether or not the teenager is bothered by seeing bad things happen to people, or if they want to step in and help.

Dr. Bowers is now working with colleagues in other universities and community organizations to apply that model to youth in other countries and environments, so they can determine how measures of success may need to be adjusted, depending on where and how youth live.

“For example, when measuring competence, a First Nations teenager living in a remote area in Canada’s Northwest Territories needs to have certain skills to succeed that would make no sense to a suburban kid in Boston,” he says. “We’re drilling deeper into the measures to find out exactly what skills are necessary in their specific contexts, to ensure the model can adapt to reflect their unique situations.”

How does one find out what measures work for certain groups of people? According to Dr. Bowers, the first step is asking them. Right now, he’s working with Maasai Mara University in Kenya, Oregon State University, and the University of South Carolina on a Templeton World Charity Foundation funded project to develop a new tool that youth workers will be able use to assess character strengths among Kenyan youth. The project is one of only 14 funded from over 150 applications spanning 55 countries around the globe, and involves interviews with 60 youth and 15 adults to get a sense of what measures are most important for youth living in different environments.

“Within Nairobi, there are teenagers living more traditional lives and street kids who are working towards very different ideas of success,” he says. “The challenge is to develop a model that can be tailored to specifically measure what skills and supports they need to be successful in their specific context of their shared community.”

The instrument they develop will be tested on a sample of 450 youths to establish its validity, relevance and ease of use. Dr. Bowers says the impact of this new tool will be far-reaching.

“This project is not just building a tool for one community,” he says. “It’s also building capacity for youth workers and scholars to conduct high quality research and become a hub for youth development in that area of the African continent.”

Dr. Bowers is also using other opportunities to identify new avenues for applied research to benefit young people. In June he traveled to Senegal with a group of Clemson student-athletes and staff on a school construction project organized by buildOn, a non-profit organization that constructs a new school every two days in some of the economically poorest countries around the world. Now he’s working with YDL program graduate and buildOn Community Engagement Manager Aled Hollingworth to apply their experiences to the development of innovative service-learning opportunities. Next fall, Dr. Bowers also plans to co-teach an international virtual exchange course with a colleague in Vietnam. The course will bring together students from Clemson with students at Ho Chi Minh City Open University to explore the role of digital media in the lives of young people from different cultures.

He says that projects like the Kenyan initiative, service-learning study abroad experiences like the Senegal trip, and virtual exchanges are key to gathering the input needed to tailor youth development measurement tools for global communities. These experiences are equally important for students looking to enter the youth development field.

“Finding ways to get students out in these different cultures conducting field work is the best way to build their skills to see development from a systems perspective, extend our reach, and continue to build capacity in communities they visit,” he says. “Exchanges can also make a big difference, by connecting youth development students from other countries with our students to engage in discussions about best practices, and then identify ways to best promote thriving in diverse communities. Our goal is to encourage positive youth development in a global society.”

Dr. Ryan Sharp, associate professor in the park management and conservation program at Kansas State University, was recently honored with the Benton H. Box Award by the Clemson University Institute for Parks in recognition of his academic and instructional leadership in the environmental field.

The institute presents the annual awards program, which is named for George B. Hartzog Jr., the seventh director of the National Park Service, to showcase leading figures in the field of conservation. Specific awards were named after visionary leaders that Hartzog respected and admired. Award recipients are following in Hartzog’s footsteps by making significant contributions to the management of parks and preservation of our natural, historical, and cultural heritage.

The Benton H. Box Award recognizes academic professionals that exemplify Dr. Box’s distinguished career as an educator and administrator. Dr. Sharp shared this year’s award with Stephen C. Trombulak, Professor Emeritus of biology and biosphere studies at Middlebury College, for leadership in preserving our natural environment and inspiring in students the quest for knowledge and the development of an environmental ethic.

Matt Brownlee, associate professor of parks, recreation and tourism management at Clemson University, presented the award to Dr. Sharp at a ceremony on October 22. According to Dr. Brownlee, Dr. Sharp’s focus on finding solutions to complicated and multi-faceted management research problems in American parks, coupled with his ability to connect with park managers, is unmatched.

“I’ve had the great privilege of collaborating on a number of different research endeavors with Dr. Sharp, working in parks from Alaska to Georgia,” he says. “His ability to translate complicated academic theory and research approaches into pragmatic solutions is unrivalled in the research community.”

Dr. Sharp obtained his PhD in natural resources, recreation & tourism from the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia, his M.Ed. from Georgia College in outdoor recreation, and a BS in education from the State University of New York at Cortland. He was also part of the inaugural group of fellows for the George Wright Society’s Park Break program (now offered as a partnership between the Society and Institute for Parks), which brings a diverse set of graduate students to national parks for a week-long service-based learning experience. He’s since become an active champion for the program, helping to plan, fund, and administer severalpark break excursions. He was also designated an Institute for Parks scholar in April 2019 in recognition of his long history of working in park science.

Throughout his teaching career, Dr. Sharp has always found ways to get his students out into the field, to provide hands-on experiences and opportunities to connect with park professionals. He also includes a service component in his field courses, in hopes of instilling the value of contributing to their communities. Dr. Sharp’s students at Kansas State University have participated in projects across the U.S., such as Grand Canyon National Park, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Ozark National Scenic Riverways, and Cumberland Island National Seashore.

“Ryan needs parks and, respectfully, parks need Ryan,” continues Brownlee. “We are lucky to have him in this world.”

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The Clemson University Institute for Parks (CUIP) provides research, education, training, and outreach that enhances the management of the world’s parks and protected areas. It accomplishes this by providing park and protected area managers with innovative research to support science-based decision-making; and by developing current and future leaders in the park movement by providing interdisciplinary and transformative education and training programs. The Institute currently consists of 35 Fellows and 8 Scholars, including Dr. Sharp, working on park-related research.

Visit the CUIP website for more information about the George B. Hartzog, Jr. Environmental Awards program and its recipients.

Dr. Carolyn Ward, Chief Executive Officer of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, was recently honored with the William C. Everhart Award by the Clemson University Institute for Parks in recognition of sustained achievements that provide creative insights and that foster an appreciation of our natural and cultural heritage.

The institute presents the annual awards program, which is named for George B. Hartzog Jr., the seventh director of the National Park Service, to showcase leading figures in the field of conservation. The awards are named for visionary leaders who make significant contributions to the management of parks and preservation of our natural, historical, and cultural heritage.

Dr. Ward received the William C. Everhart Award because of her longstanding commitment to connecting people to our country’s natural and cultural places and resources, and her contributions to the field of interpretation.

Bob Powell, director of the Institute for Parks, presented the award to Dr. Ward at a ceremony on October 22. According to Dr. Powell, Ward’s passionate leadership in the interpretation field has been instrumental in ensuring the field is evidence-based and moving forward.

“For many years, the philosophies and principles underlying the profession of interpretation have largely been followed based on faith and were largely untested,” he says. “She is a longstanding champion for the importance of research in informing the interpretation field as it evolves to meet the needs of the 21^st century public.”

Dr. Ward’s distinguished career has spanned three decades, from field interpreter at Hungry Mother State Park to CEO of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, the primary philanthropic partner to the Blue Ridge Parkway. With more visitors than Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon combined, the Blue Ridge Parkway is one of the most visited units of the National Park Service. Under Ward’s leadership, the foundation has provided over $14 million to support programs and projects that continue to help preserve and protect the parkway.

Dr. Ward was born in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Southwestern Virginia, graduated from Emory and Henry College, and received her master’s degree and PhD from Virginia Tech in Forestry. She is a decorated professor and award-winning researcher and author whose life’s work has been dedicated to building bridges and making connections. While working at Humboldt State University, Ward grew a modern and comprehensive interpretive program and conducted field research across the country. In 2009, she launched the ‘Kids in Parks’ program in partnership with the Blue Ridge Parkway and Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, which unites National Park Service, state parks, community groups, the Eastern Band of Cherokee, and nonprofit organizations around the goal of getting more kids moving outdoors and connected to public lands. The Kids in Parks program now features 200 trails in 12 states and has facilitated over one million adventures for kids and families.

“Dr. Ward’s sustained leadership, grit and determination has left a lasting legacy across the US and the World and has positively influenced countless agencies, managers, interpreters, as well as the general public,” continues Dr. Powell. “Carolyn is an important and powerful role model that has blazed a trail of success in a field that has been traditionally male dominated. I cannot think of a more deserving recipient for this award.”

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The Clemson University Institute for Parks (CUIP) provides research, education, training, and outreach that enhances the management of the world’s parks and protected areas. It accomplishes this by providing park and protected area managers with innovative research to support science-based decision-making; and by developing current and future leaders in the park movement by providing interdisciplinary and transformative education and training programs. The Institute currently consists of 35 Fellows and 8 Scholars working on park-related research.

Visit the CUIP website for more information about the George B. Hartzog, Jr. Environmental Awards program and its recipients.

Dr. Steve Trombulak, professor emeritus of biology and environmental studies at Middlebury College, was recently honored with the Benton H. Box Award by the Clemson University Institute for Parks in recognition of his academic and instructional leadership in the environmental field.

The institute presents the annual awards program, which is named for George B. Hartzog Jr., the seventh director of the National Park Service, to showcase leading figures in the field of conservation. Specific awards were named after visionary leaders that Hartzog respected and admired. Award recipients are following in Hartzog’s footsteps by making significant contributions to the management of parks and preservation of our natural, historical, and cultural heritage.

The Benton H. Box Award recognizes academic professionals that exemplify Dr. Box’s distinguished career as an educator and administrator. Dr. Trombulak shared this year’s award with Ryan L. Sharp, associate professor in the park management and conservation program at Kansas State University, for leadership in preserving our natural environment and inspiring in students the quest for knowledge and the development of an environmental ethic.

Robert Baldwin, endowed chair and professor of conservation biology at Clemson University, presented the award to Dr. Trombulak at a ceremony on October 22. According to Dr. Baldwin, Dr. Trombulak is a force for science-based landscape level management in the northeast United States and Canada.

“He has published over 90 scientific articles, many with Middlebury students, and his review of the ecological effects of roads has been cited 3,000 times,” he says. “For a single paper, that’s like winning the Heisman Trophy.”

Dr. Trombulak is a conservation biologist and landscape ecologist. He earned his BA in biology at UCLA and his PhD in zoology at the University of Washington in Seattle. He began his research career focusing on population and community ecology, including studies on elevational distributions of pinyon pines in the Mohave desert, territorial behavior of hummingbirds in the tropical dry forests of Costa Rica, thermoregulation of desert-dwelling beetles in the Great Basin Desert, competition between montane chipmunks in the Cascade Mountains of the Pacific Northwest, and phenotypic plasticity in life-history strategies of montane ground squirrels in both the Cascade and Sierra Nevada Mountains.

At Middlebury College, he developed a diverse and highly successful teaching program in conservation biology, vertebrate natural history, and environmental science.  His research program also expanded beyond ecology to embrace both conservation biology – with an emphasis on protected areas, conservation planning, and wildlands – as well as science pedagogy. He retired in June after 34 years in the field.

“I am so pleased that Steve has been recognized this award,” continues Baldwin. “Steve, like Dean Box, has set an example as a teacher and scholar, he has fostered learning environments as an administrator and also an environmental ethic, both in his community and abroad.”

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The Clemson University Institute for Parks (CUIP) provides research, education, training, and outreach that enhances the management of the world’s parks and protected areas. It accomplishes this by providing park and protected area managers with innovative research to support science-based decision-making; and by developing current and future leaders in the park movement by providing interdisciplinary and transformative education and training programs. The Institute currently consists of 35 Fellows and 8 Scholars, including Dr. Trombulak, working on park-related research.

Visit the CUIP website for more information about the George B. Hartzog, Jr. Environmental Awards program and its recipients.

Dr. Jenn Thomsen, assistant professor of parks, recreation and tourism management at the University of Montana, was recently honored with the Dwight A. Holder Award by the Clemson University Institute for Parks in recognition of her outstanding work as a conservation researcher and teacher in the environmental field.

The institute presents the annual awards program, which is named for George B. Hartzog Jr., the seventh director of the National Park Service, to showcase leading figures in the field of conservation. Specific awards were named after visionary leaders that Hartzog respected and admired. Award recipients are following in Hartzog’s footsteps by making significant contributions to the management of parks and preservation of our natural, historical and cultural heritage.

The Dwight A. Holder Award recognizes academic professionals that exemplify Mr. Holder’s illustrious career as an entrepreneur and public servant, which included leading South Carolina’s parks to a new era of service. Dr. Thomsen received this award for outstanding work and sustained achievement that fosters understanding, wise use and conservation of natural and cultural resources.

Wayne Freimund, chair of the parks, recreation and tourism management department at Clemson University, presented the award to Dr. Thomsen at a ceremony on October 22. According to Dr. Freimund, Thomsen has made a significant impact on the conservation field at a relatively young age.

“Jenn already has an impressive publication and teaching record, with a research focus that requires her to pull groups together on almost intractable issues, such as livelihood versus wildlife population management,” he says. “She does it masterfully, with an unparalleled ability to find the glue that holds several different collaborators together.”

Dr. Thomsen graduated with her M.S. in Wildlife Biology from Clemson University, where she also earned her PhD in parks and conservation area management. Her research largely focuses on stakeholder collaboration associated with large landscape conservation, sustainable tourism and protected area management. Her work has involved partnerships with the Center for Large Landscape Conservation and the IUCN Connectivity and Transboundary Specialist groups to conduct surveys addressing the challenges, opportunities and outcomes associated with stakeholder collaboration and how these groups evolve over time in their transboundary ecosystem management. She also contributes to UNESCO’s biosphere reserve network and serves on the National MAB Committee.

Her work in sustainable tourism and protected area management focuses on the management of resources that balances the environmental, social/cultural and economic needs of diverse stakeholders. Her research explores unique types of tourism, such as voluntourism in Peru and Haiti, whitewater ecotourism in Bhutan and safari hunting tourism in Botswana. She’s conducted research for the US Forest Service and National Park Service and is part of the INSAKA collaborative group that brings together partners of African universities to address social-ecological issues. Dr. Thomsen is passionate about her teaching and field experiences for students, and about engaging the next generation of conservation and protected area leaders.

“Jenn’s students love her, and her faculty and collaborators love working with her,” continues Dr. Freimund. “And now as the recipient of this year’s Dwight A. Holder award, she can be rest assured that her alma mater feels the same way. I can’t wait to see where she takes her already-impressive career.”

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The Clemson University Institute for Parks (CUIP) provides research, education, training, and outreach that enhances the management of the world’s parks and protected areas. It accomplishes this by providing park and protected area managers with innovative research to support science-based decision-making; and by developing current and future leaders in the park movement by providing interdisciplinary and transformative education and training programs. The Institute currently consists of 35 Fellows and 8 Scholars working on park-related research.

Visit the CUIP website for more information about the George B. Hartzog, Jr. Environmental Awards program and its recipients.

Clemson’s Recreational Therapy (RT) Club, led by students in the university’s recreational therapy program, are working with the Clemson Adaptive Sport and Recreation Lab and Roger C. Peace Rehabilitation Hospital to help junior wheelchair basketball teams compete in the upstate.

The group raised the money needed to host a competition this weekend in Spartanburg, where you’ll be able to see the top junior wheelchair basketball teams from South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama compete in the 2^nd Annual Clemson Classic Wheelchair Basketball Tournament at the Upward Star Center (9768 Warren H Abernathy Hwy).

Youth between the ages of 5 to 18 are playing in this two-day southeast regional tournament, which is organized by the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) and the Rollin’ Tigers, South Carolina’s only junior wheelchair basketball team. The tournament gives participating wheelchair athletes an opportunity to be part of a team and play in a competitive environment.

RT Club President Hannah Wells says that they began thinking about running the tournament three years ago, and have been working towards it ever since.

“The Rollin’ Tigers is the only wheelchair basketball team in the entire state of South Carolina. It’s awesome that we have a local team, but there are only a few tournaments that they can go to each season – and none of them are local,” she says. “This tournament is an awesome opportunity for these athletes to compete on their own turf. Their families and friends can support them without having to overcome the barriers of traveling far and paying high costs associated with traveling.”

The club has played a lead role in planning the tournament with its sponsors, community members and event partners, and is providing around 15 club members to work each day of the event. They raised the money needed to host the event by applying for grants from several Clemson University campus organizations and by using funds raised through a recreational therapy conference they organize every year, including a silent auction designed to specifically generate money for the competition.

Jeff Townsend, the Rollin’ Tigers coach and Lecturer in Clemson’s Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management department, says that the tournament wouldn’t be possible without the club’s support.

“Hosting a regional competition requires manpower, community support and money,” he says. “These students were able to provide all three, and as a result, are creating an exciting opportunity for these young athletes to demonstrate and improve their skills in a competitive environment.”

Jasmine Townsend, an assistant professor at Clemson University and tournament director, says that she’s excited about being able to support expanding opportunities for these athletes to compete.

“This tournament gives these athletes an opportunity to a be part of a team and play a competitive sport,” she says. “They’re getting rare access to typical youth sport opportunities that are often available to other athletes in the area.”

Wells and her club members are proud to have played a role in creating opportunity for these athletes. Now, she says, they need people to come to the event and show their support.

“These kids are cute – all kids are – but they’re also competitive athletes,” she says. “Our ultimate goal is to have adaptive sports like this normalized and readily available for people with different disabilities, and for them to be perceived just like any other youth sport.”

And, she adds, the event is free, making it a good way to spend the day as a family.

“Bring your kiddos, your pals, your significant others, and your neighbors and enjoy a free day of watching a super cool sport.”

For more information about the tournament, contact Jeff Townsend at townse7@clemson.edu.

If you’re headed to the 5^th annual Clemson Community Play Day at Nettles Park this Saturday, you’re likely to see several Clemson Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management (PRTM) students and Clemson Outdoor Lab staff on the job.

Clemson’s Community Play Day is a large community event that attracts several hundred people every year, and is organized through a partnership between the US Play Coalition and the City of Clemson. The event is free and encourages families to get up, get out and go play with several fun activities and games, including inflatables and crafts. This year’s event is on Saturday, September 14 between 11 am to 2 pm.

More than 40 PRTM students are volunteering at this year’s event, as part of their learning requirement for either the department’s EDGE undergraduate program or a course in Advanced Program Planning. Their roles include operating the registration area, helping to lead activity stations, and assisting with the event’s set up and take down.

According to Stephanie Garst, Executive Director of the US Play Coalition, having students fill on-site roles at the event is critical to the day’s success. Students also gain an on-the-job perspective of what goes into planning and implementing a large, family-friendly, outdoor event.

“Helping with Clemson’s Community Play Day gives our students more of an understanding of what needs to be considered when implementing an event of this size and scope,” she says. “There are so many factors that come into play, from accessibility and inclusion to risk management and safety.  We hope that everyone who wants to attend our Play Day is able to explore different types of play while they are with us.”

After the event, students write a reflective paper about their volunteer experience, including what they learned and how it connected to what they have learned in the classroom.

“Volunteering for events such as Clemson Community Play Day offers students meaningful examples of the principles they are learning through lectures,” says Assistant Professor Dr. Harrison Pinckney, who teaches the Advanced Program Planning class. “The reflective papers students are asked to write after they volunteer brings their practical and academic experiences together into applied learning.”

PRTM EDGE Coordinator and Senior Lecturer Dr. Teresa Tucker adds that these types of volunteer experiences are also central to the innovative, immersive experience the EDGE program creates for sophomore students, taking a collaborative approach to delivering core parks, recreation and tourism management content.

“We supplement all of our classroom content with applied experiences that give students insight into a concept as both a learner and a future professional,” she says. “This type of experience gives us an opportunity to discuss as a group how they might manage working with volunteers in the future – knowledge that they are likely to draw on when they start working in the parks, recreation and tourism fields.”

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Clemson Community Play Day is offered every year through a partnership between the US Play Coalition and the City of Clemson’s Parks and Recreation department, with support from Clemson University’s Outdoor Lab.

Visit the Clemson Community Play Day Facebook page for details about Saturday’s event.

Scuba divers never dive alone. A diving buddy is needed to make sure the diver is able to get out of the water quickly and safely, if the unexpected happens. Robbie Bogan, owner of Upstate Scuba in Clemson, says that same general rule also applies to running a successful business.

Robbie’s buddy? The Leisure Skills program managed by Clemson’s Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management department, which helped him build and grow Upstate Scuba, a local scuba diving business that trains divers in more than nine counties throughout South Carolina and parts of Georgia.

Robbie, who’s been teaching a scuba diving course for the program since 2004, has always had a passion for diving and rescue.

“I started diving as a child, and worked as a firefighter for several years,” he says. “one of the areas I always wanted to explore was rescue diving – applying my scuba experience to underwater rescue and training others to do it too.”

On a trip to Clemson in 2004 and after discussions with people in the community, he realized the area had everything he needed to start a scuba diving business. There were no existing options to learn how to scuba dive in the region, giving him an untapped market.

Most importantly, says Clemson’s Leisure Skills program Director and Senior Lecturer Dan Anderson, a local scuba diving training option didn’t exist for Clemson University students who may need certification to build their careers, such as for some jobs in marine biology.

“When we spoke with Robbie, we saw an opportunity to help our students earn a certification that was otherwise locally unavailable,” he continued. “Scuba diving is a perfect fit for our Leisure Skills program, which helps Clemson students learn new skills, get more involved on campus and broaden their network opportunities.”

Students take leisure skills program for a number of reasons, including introducing themselves to new activities, and potential new hobbies or career options. More than 150 one-credit learning options were offered last spring in subjects such as dance, shotgun sports, yoga, fitness, outdoor recreation, sports and first aid. Class sections are taught by experts in the field, like Robbie.

The Leisure Skills scuba diving course teaches basic open water diving techniques and helps students gain the knowledge they need to meet requirements of an open water diving certification. Students take four classes to learn the basics of open water diving and practice what they’ve learned in three pool sessions.

At the end of the course, students are required to pass a swim test for certification by an internationally recognized and accepted certifying agency. The test requires them to complete three dives one day and two the next. When they pass the swim test, students earn one credit towards their undergraduate degree at Clemson University, while also gaining an international certification that they can use to dive anywhere in the world.

Students can maintain that certification for life, says Robbie.

“All they need to do to maintain their certification is to keep a log of their dives,” he says. “If they complete and record two dives per year, they keep their certification. If they don’t complete their dives, they have the option of taking a half-day update class to get them back up to speed and get re-certified.”

Robbie says that after starting to work with Leisure Skills to train Clemson students, he’s never looked back. His business continues to grow, having certified more than 3,000 students over the past 15 years, and is able to offer rescue diving training to first responders.

He credits his success to Clemson University.

“We’re now making a huge impact in the region by building underwater rescue capacity, but if it weren’t for the university’s leisure skills program, we wouldn’t be doing this,” he says. “The impact of the Leisure Skills program on my small business and so many others has impacted the Clemson community in ways that they may not even realize. We’re very fortunate and appreciative.”

He also says that the program helps people in more fields than you would originally expect.

“We’re seeing scuba diving being used in a number of different professions, such as for engineers doing underwater bridge inspectors, or even astronauts, as being underwater can mimic the experience of being in space,” he says. “Some of our former students have even become rescue divers themselves. Even if they don’t ever need to actually rescue anyone, the peace of mind knowing they’re ready to help is huge.”

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Clemson’s Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management department employs experts in leisure studies and outdoor recreation. Learn more about its Leisure Skills program.

At first glance, Haley Plumley and Lauren Grubbs may not have a lot in common, other than their age (they’re both 12 years old). They also live in different states – Haley lives in Florida and Lauren in North Carolina – and have different connections to Clemson.

If you look a little deeper, however, you’ll see that they share a similar determination, and a strongly-held belief that despite their age, they have the power to change the world – a belief they’re proving by working to raise awareness of the plight of tigers in the wild.

Lauren and Haley got involved in different ways. Lauren writes letters that get attention. She was learning how to write persuasive letters as part of a 5^th grade class project, when she decided to write Clemson University President Jim Clements about the need for the university to lead an effort to save tigers in the wild.

“About 70 kids in Lauren’s school sent persuasive letters to complete the project assignment, but she was the only student who received a personalized response back,” says her mother, Katie Grubbs. “She’s been writing letters ever since. It’s fascinating to see who replies and who doesn’t, and the confidence and influence she’s grown in the process.”

Clements asked Dr. Brett Wright, Director of the Tigers United University Consortium, to respond on his behalf to Lauren’s letter. The Consortium is devoted to tiger conservation and consists of four land-grant, tiger mascot universities working collaboratively on this issue – Clemson University, Auburn University, Louisiana State University and the University of Missouri. Katie says Dr. Wright’s response to Lauren’s letter was written in a way that she could understand and provided useful information about the Consortium, its goals and its work.

Haley, on the other hand, was working on a community service project for school and wanted to find a unique way for a kid to further a cause she could believe in, support and help. Last year, she learned about the Tigers United University Consortium at Clemson through her Dad, who played football for Clemson between 1990-94 and remains an active supporter. Haley overheard her Dad talking about a donation he had made to the consortium and their need for help, and realized she’d found her project.

“Over the last few years, Haley had been asking me how kids can get involved in an issue, and what they can do that would really help,” said Julie Plumley, Haley’s mother. “When she heard about the consortium and that it’s something many people don’t yet know about, she realized she could spread the word and really make a difference.”

Her idea was to create an educational program for elementary-aged children about the need for tiger conservation, including how they can help, so they could share that information with their friends and families and get involved.

This idea started to become reality this past spring as a unique learning opportunity for Clemson University’s Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management students. Associate Professor Gwynn Powell, who teaches a Youth Development in Camp course, saw an opportunity for her students to combine public service with developmental pedagogy.

“Our class was developing activities for elementary school aged children participating in the City of Clemson’s annual spring break day camp,” says Dr. Powell. “The tiger conservation program was a great project, because it challenged them to develop a curriculum that combined academic content with recreational activities.”

Dr. Powell tasked her students with creating potential programs and activities for an elementary school education program to teach tiger conservation to students in grades first through fifth grade. Given their experience with the consortium and its work, Haley and Lauren were asked to vet the class’s ideas in a ‘Shark Tank’ evaluation setting.

Holly Carlisle, one of the students that presented to Haley and Lauren, said the process was a meaningful learning experience, and that the judges provided useful feedback.

“I was really motivated to work hard because our work was for more than a class assignment,” she says. “We tested our work with children, so we know we’re designing something meaningful for them. I hope the program can be used around the world to help children see the importance of tiger conservation.”

Fellow student Caroline Self agrees, and appreciated Haley and Lauren’s (often blunt) feedback.

“Those kids did not cut us any slack!” she says. “It was helpful to hear from them, because this assignment challenged us to target specific activities for specific grades, so we had to really understand the developmental difference in the ages to strike the right balance.”

The program is now being refined with input from elementary school teachers. Haley and Lauren’s schools agreed to pilot the program when it’s ready.

Consortium Director Brett Wright says Haley and Lauren are proving that anyone can have a significant impact on the world, regardless of your age.

“These girls are two of the savviest, most invested and dedicated people I’ve come across,” he says. “They know they can make a difference, and they’re putting in some serious work to spread the message about tiger conservation, and how dire the situation has become.

He says their involvement also gives him hope for the tiger’s future.

“We chant ‘Go Tigers’ on a daily basis, but not many know the truth about the animal we hold so dear – and how close they are to extinction,” he says. “Lauren and Haley are giving us an important tool we can use to raise awareness, and hopefully bring more people to the cause. Without that help, tigers as we know it may become extinct in their lifetime.”

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Tigers United Week runs from September 3 to 7 in Clemson. The consortium’s universities are all raising awareness of tiger conservation through through several activities, including a Scarcity Scavenger Hunt with a grand cash prize and an information booth while Clemson tailgates for Saturday’s game, with an opportunity to meet Clemson’s First Lady Beth Clements and her daughter, Grace. The week culminates with a launch of a new, 30-second video about the consortium’s mission during the Clemson home football game on Saturday afternoon. More information about Tigers United Week and its activities can be found on the Tigers United blog.

You can also support Tigers United by texting CUtigers to 41444.