Emily Whitaker Poetz, a mother of three in Clemson, South Carolina, is among millions of parents dusting off their lawn chairs and preparing to enroll their children in sports programs in their community this spring.
About 71.8% of youth between the ages of 6 and 12 participated in youth sports programs in 2018. Poetz says she’s had only positive experiences with the programs in her area, which allow her kids to explore different athletic options.
Clemson PRTM faculty member Dr. Skye Arthur-Banning.
“We don’t let even my sport-crazy kid specialize in just one sport,” she says. “Instead, we make sure he takes breaks so he isn’t playing something continuously all year.”
Poetz also looks for other ways for her children to channel their energy throughout the year, such as enrolling one of her sons in a private training program to teach him how to work out safely with the experts.
Although Poetz’s experiences have been largely positive, other parents may find themselves navigating other issues on the sidelines, such as dealing with overbearing parents or preventing sports overuse injuries.
Dr. Skye Arthur-Banning of Clemson University’s Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management department wrote a book to help parents navigate some of these challenges. Called Youth Sports in America: The Most Important Issues in Youth Sports Today, it provides an expert’s perspective on 37 different issues parents may face in a sporting environment.
Because some of the issues in the book fall outside his area of expertise, Arthur-Banning assembled a team of academics and practitioners throughout the country to write about specific topics. An M.D., for example, wrote a chapter on concussions. References are provided at the end of each chapter for further reading.
Dr. Arthur-Banning’s book, Youth Sports in America, was written for parents, coaches and administrators.
“The book was written for parents, coaches and administrators and tries to address questions each may have, such as the benefits of playing on an organized team, pay to play, and how to prevent or protect a child from being pressured into playing with an injury,” he says. “This is a guidebook that can help them whether they’re on the sidelines or volunteering as a parent-coach.”
Banning brings a unique perspective to these issues. He researches and teaches amateur sport by day, officiates soccer games on his evening and weekends, and watches his two young daughters play community athletics on weekday evenings.
His advice to parents with concerns about how team sports are being managed is to pay attention to what your child tells you about their experience, and to talk to your local parks and recreation department when issues start to feel out of control.
“Community recreation is there to help children explore healthy activity and encourage teamwork and cooperation,” he says. “Parks and recreation managers want to make sure that children are playing in a safe and supportive environment, so don’t be afraid to talk through concerns with them.”
Grace Graves credits a career fair, and one of her Clemson professors, for helping her find her first job in the hotel and service industry.
PRTM alumni Grace Graves (2017) on the job with OTO Development, while the AC Hotel Spartanburg was under construction.
Grace graduated from Clemson University in 2017 as part of the first cohort with departmental honors for her major in parks, recreation and tourism management (PRTM). Although she had a job when she graduated, it was with an employer she almost didn’t connect with at a career fair organized by the department.
“I had done all of my research on the companies I wanted to talk to before the career fair, but when I got there, I didn’t find anything I was super excited about,” she says. “I ran into one of my professors on the way out and told him I was feeling discouraged, and he encouraged me to talk to a hotel development and management company that had been added at the last minute.”
Grace was a bit nervous to approach an organization she hadn’t researched in advance, but when she realized their representative was based near her home in downtown Spartanburg, they fell into easy conversation. Although they didn’t have any opportunities for her at the corporate office, the company was building a new hotel in downtown Spartanburg that needed people. She was encouraged to talk to the staff on site.
“I wasn’t sure about approaching this organization at first because I didn’t know anything about hotels, but I did it anyway,” she says. “I’m so glad I did, because that conversation turned into a job that taught me so much – and that took me through the process of building a hotel from the ground up.”
Grace started as an operations and sales intern. After her internship was complete, they hired her as their sales coordinator and soon promoted her to sales manager. The job gave her experience working with the area’s Convention and Visitors’ Bureau and Chamber of Commerce, and helped her apply her learning in several different PRTM areas of focus, such as tourism, events, sales, community relations and management.
Grace Graves during Clemson University’s summer 2017 graduation ceremony.
Although she’s since left the organization for a job in the higher education industry, she remains on good terms with her former employer and is interested in getting back into the service and hotel industry at some point.
Grace says that career fairs are important, because they prepare students for real world interactions in a professional setting. She encourages students to talk to their professors both before and after the event, as they have valuable advice about how to make industry connections. She also says it’s important to ask for business cards and to contact the people you met after the event is over.
Grace’s other career fair tips include:
Buy an “interview” outfit before the event that feels comfortable and professional.
Review the list of employers that are attending and highlight your top choices. Use a different color to highlight other organizations to talk to if you still have time.
Research each employer that you plan to speak with. Find three facts about the organization, and write three questions in advance. You can also brainstorm a short, relevant story about yourself that relates to the company or its goals.
Bring your printed resume and a notepad. You can also use your phone to take notes, but make sure you ask if they’re comfortable with you taking notes first.
Smile and have a firm handshake. Be confident and sell yourself.
Follow up with either a thank you note or quick email the same day, and make sure you refer to something that you spoke about so that they will remember your name and face.
Above all, Grace says, it’s important to be open to ideas, experiences and opportunities. Career fairs give students opportunities that simply aren’t available after they graduate, and keeping an open mind can open doors to something unplanned, but rewarding.
“Career fairs are a real, live in-person LinkedIn,” she says. “You’ll never get that many organizations in the same place again. The connections you make may not lead to something right away, but if you continue to take advantage of these opportunities, you’ll start to see doors start to open up for you over time.”
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The CEPA/PRTM Career/Internship and Camp Job Fair is on Monday, February 17between 9:30AM and 1:00PM on the second floor of the Hendrix Center. Read more about the career fair, including which organizations are participating.
Going to the CEPA/PRTM career fair on February 17? Here are some tips to help you get the most from the experience.
The PRTM Career Fair is an opportunity for students to find internships, practicums or summer job opportunities, while also making valuable industry connections.
Research companies that interest you
Before the career fair, you should select companies that they are interested in speaking with and do a little research on that company. Great places to look would be the company’s website or LinkedIn. This will give you confidence and also show that you are interested in the company. This may also help to narrow down your search, because you may find a little more about the culture of the company and some of their key values.
Use resources provided by the university
Clemson University has some great resources to use to prepare for the career fair, like the Michelin Career Center. Here students can attend resume workshops and even mock interviews.
The elevator pitch is something that each student should practice before going. This is a quick 45 to 60 second introduction that states your name, major, graduation date, and some of your aspirations.
I recently competed in an elevator pitch competition where students present to employers the value they could offer to the company and then connect by asking for an interview or employment opportunities. When presenting to an employer, saying something you find interesting about the company is always beneficial and shows the company that you have interest. Next, do not be afraid to ask what opportunities that the business has in the future, but also know what exactly you are looking for.
Ask questions
Asking questions can be beneficial to you as well as show the company you are with that you came prepared. Some great questions to ask would be:
What is your role in the business?
What kind of education/experience do you need to get into this field?
What do you think the most important skills are for success in this field?
What’s your organization’s culture like?
What makes your organization stand out amongst the competition?
How can I help you meet your goals?
Would you like to keep in touch?
For the day of the career fair, you should have up to date resumes and between 10 to 12 copies. Remember to dress for success and if you do not have professional attire there is now an on-campus Career Closet students should check out.
I know personally that career fairs can be stressful, but by being prepared, asking questions, and knowing future goals the career fair can lead to some great opportunities for internships or a career after college.
This year there will be around 40 employers at the career fair, which will be held on February 17, 2020 in Hendrix Student Center. For a more detailed timeline, visit the PRTM career fair website.
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Harrison Wall is currently enrolled at Clemson University as a Marketing major and a Communication Studies minor, graduating in December of 2020. He is a PRTM communications intern that assists with planning and generating content for social media.
When Ron Walker was first offered the job of National Park Service (NPS) Director in 1973, he turned it down.
A former chief advance man to President Nixon, Walker had traveled across the country and around the globe, making sure everything was in place before a presidential visit. He had no experience with national parks and wasn’t sure why he was offered the role.
Participants of the first-ever Ron Walker Leadership Development Program, with the Clemson University Institute for Parks Board.
He was told to sleep on it before making a final decision. As he talked the opportunity over with his family, he recalled his time in the military, which taught him that you don’t say “no” to the President of the United States.
He accepted the job the next morning.
Over the next two years, Walker guided the NPS through a tumultuous time that saw 14 new park areas added to its mandate, including the first two national preserves.
According to Phil Gaines, professor of practice at Clemson University and retired director of South Carolina’s state parks, Walker is a legend in the parks and conservation field for several reasons.
“Ron Walker is one of the best examples of leading under fire that you can find,” Gaines said. “He’s also known for identifying and then developing staff from throughout the NPS system that had the potential to become great leaders.”
The Ron Walker Leadership Development program at Clemson University is designed in a similar way. The program brings together new and emerging leaders from state and national parks to strengthen their critical-thinking and decision-making skills. Participants spend four days at Clemson University, working as a group to discuss challenging park management issues and how to use research to inform their decision-making process.
Clemson faculty at the Institute for Parks developed the program to build transformative and effective leaders that are ready to fill leadership roles that are becoming vacant at unprecedented rates in parks systems across the country due to an aging workforce.
Many of those starting to look towards retirement are in leadership positions, creating a possible leadership vacuum for the National Park Service.
The leadership development program is intended to fill those gaps, says Bob Powell, director of the Institute for Parks.
“Parks are facing increasingly complex challenges, and up-and-coming leaders need a wide range of skills to develop sustainable solutions,” Powell said. “When a participant leaves this program, we want them to return to their host park ready to apply approaches they’ve learned to challenges they’re currently facing and prepare for issues they are likely to face in the future.”
The first group of park leaders completed the leadership development program in October and are already seeing an impact on how they approach key issues on the job.
Program participants also received leadership insight from David Vela, deputy director exercising the authority of the director of the National Park Service, shortly after he delivered the 2019 George B. Hartzog, Jr. Lecture on October 22.
Priscilla Geigis, deputy commissioner for conservation and resource stewardship at the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, says that the program discussions have helped her look at issues a different way.
“I now want to find opportunities to use technology more regularly to gather information to help make informed decisions,” Geigis said. “I also want to collaborate with universities to not only see issues with a different lens but to also back up decisions with credible research.”
Matt Whitlow, an Outdoor Recreation Planner with the National Park Service, said that he found the discussions with researchers and practitioners in the parks field beneficial.
“Being immersed in multiple days of conversations with researchers and practitioners representing multiple levels of government agencies and learning how research is being conducted in different parks and park settings was one of the greatest benefits of the program,” Whitlow said.
Since completing the program, Whitlow has been reviewing and interpreting the laws, regulations and policies associated with his core responsibilities to ensure the work he does is rooted in both fidelity to the law and serves the long-term public interest.
Planning is currently underway for the second class of park leaders, who will attend the program at Clemson University in October 2020.
Geigis says one of the most valuable lessons she took away from the week was the need for park leaders to navigate change in a way that ensures parks can stay relevant while maintaining the park system’s core values.
“Being part of a rich legacy of park professionals is an honor, privilege and responsibility,” Geigis said. “I was impressed to meet with key leaders in the profession and hear them share their stories and offer advice about both navigating challenges and recognizing and seizing opportunities.”
As college students, many of us are used to having to figure most things out on our own. That can make it a huge undertaking when you’re trying to find a study abroad program. Luckily though, there are many on-campus resources and people who are more than happy to help you in the search for a program that’s perfect for you!
During my search, I didn’t actually utilize any of the resources available to me, and that made my experience so much more difficult than it had to be. I spent hours combing through the Clemson terradotta app (which is not the most user-friendly, mind you) and trying a million different search combinations to find a program that interested me when in reality, all I had to do was set up a meeting with my advisor and see what she recommended.
Photo Credit: Clemson University Academic Success Center
In my opinion, the best course of action to take if you’re interested in going abroad is to speak with your advisor! They have the latest scoop on all of the awesome opportunities that fit your major and your interests, so they are best suited to give you some guidance. Not only are they knowledgeable in all things your major, but they can also help you pick the best program for your remaining course list. This is the most important facet of the study abroad search! You want to make sure that you’re fulfilling your requirements while also choosing something that interests you, and this is where your advisor comes in.
Some other useful resources on campus include Clemson Abroad, which holds Study Abroad 101 meetings throughout the year in which students learn all about what steps they need to take, what kind of stuff to bring, and a plethora of other important information. You can find all of these meetings on the Clemson University Calendar.
Devin visiting the Oland Lighthouse with her study abroad group last summer in Sweden.
You can also wander around campus and find half a million flyers with potential study abroad opportunities. In fact, you can check out the AG Quad buildings and Hendrix to find flyers I made to advertise Sustainable Cities in Scandinavia, Clemson’s only faculty-led program in Sweden.
Now let’s get into all the different varieties of study abroad opportunities! Being an out of state student myself, one of the best parts about Clemson’s study abroad programs is that you get in-state tuition when you go on a faculty-led study abroad to one of Clemson’s partner universities, which are located all over the world! When you decide on a faculty led program, you also avoid the hassle of having to find accommodation, organizing your own travel, and that of transferring credits.
If none of the Clemson faculty directed programs interest you and you want to do a third party program, there are so many of those to choose from as well, and they have their own unique benefits. Although you will have to get credits approved by Clemson faculty and go through the credit transfer process, there are way more third party opportunities than Clemson faculty-directed programs, so you may be able to find one that fits you best. Depending on the program you choose, you will be more deeply immersed in the culture of the country you go to and have more options for courses.
Exchange programs are another awesome way to go abroad. I have had many friends come and go as exchange students throughout my time at Clemson, and I gotta say, they were some of the coolest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting! Basically, you just pay the amount of your current Clemson tuition, then you switch spots with a student at one of Clemson’s partner universities, and bam you’re in a new country at a new school studying!
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Considering a study abroad opportunity this summer? Check out the Study Abroad Fair on Wednesday, February 7 from 10 am to 3 pm at the Hendrix Center.
Lacey Hennessey believes everyone has a marketable skill.
After talking to her for a few minutes, however, you realize she has more skills than most.
Clemson PRTM alumni Lacey Hennessey painting the mural for Clemson’s new Tipsy Taco restaurant.
Her business started when she was a student in the parks, recreation and tourism management program at Clemson University, and looking to make some extra money to help pay for her school and living expenses.
“I was able to use my artistic ability to have a little fun while earning the extra money I needed,” she says. “I made things like fraternity coolers and decorative items for people’s apartments, and kept getting new business from people telling others to ‘see if Lacey does it’.”
If she didn’t know how to do something she was asked to create, she’d look it up online and become an expert at it.
Her skills came in handy after she completed her degree and began working in a marketing firm in Greenville, where she saw an opportunity to use her creative abilities to save her employer and its clients time and money.
“My job was to manage the agency’s events, and as I was doing it, I realized I could add value by doing things like making the floral arrangements and signage myself,” she says.
Lacey worked full-time and managed her business on the side for a couple of years. One day an office consultant asked her what she’d most like to do and she responded that she wanted to paint. She also wanted more flexibility and freedom to travel.
“I loved my coworkers, my clients and the projects I worked on, but I didn’t love that two-week vacation policy,” she says. “I realized I wanted the freedom to say yes to new opportunities.”
Soon after, she set out on her own and started running her business, Hennessy in the Home, full-time. Her business provides artwork, custom gifts, home décor, and wedding and event planning services. Lacey creates everything from t-shirt designs to painting murals, most recently at Clemson’s new Tipsy Taco restaurant. She also continues to provide event planning services for her former agency.
Lacey Hennessey’s business, Hennessey in the Home, provides artwork, custom gifts, home décor, and wedding and event planning services.
She’s built an online presence as a blogger and on Instagram, where she posts personally as @Lacey_does and for business @hennesseyinthehome, and which she credits for being hired to paint the Tipsy Taco mural. The project was so successful that she’s been asked to paint four more murals over the next two months.
Lacey says that her training in parks, recreation and tourism management gave her the background and internship opportunities she needed to get started.
“My events planning expertise gave me the value I needed to get in the door,” she says. “My internships helped me build contacts and find my mentor.”
Her advice to current students is to think about what you do well.
“If you have a skill that can help people, you have a potential business idea,” she says. “Someone will pay you for that service.”
Harriet Gilpin (also known as Hattie) always dreamed of running her own business.
After earning a degree in parks, recreation and tourism management at Clemson University in 2015, Hattie was working for a boutique hotel company in New York when she realized the time to pursue that dream was now.
Clemson PRTM alum Harriet (Hattie) Gilpin (2015) says her experience as a Clemson PRTM student taught her the importance of being a team player.
“Although I liked my job, I realized that the best time for me to pursue my dream of going into business for myself was before I got too settled into a relationship or wanted to start a family,” she says. “Starting a business when I did freed me to focus entirely on my work without competing pressures and priorities.”
Flash forward a few months, and Hattie’s walking dogs by day and crafting high quality jewelry in her apartment by night.
“I look back on them now as some of the best days of my life so far, but I would wake up to walk my first dog at 7 am and get back to my shoebox apartment 12 hours later to start making jewelry,” she says. “Half the time I would fall asleep doing it and wake up with little pieces of jewelry and supplies stuck to my face.”
When Hattie reached the limits of what she could accomplish on her own, she reached out to a local jeweler for advice. In exchange for social media and website support, the jeweler became a mentor to Hattie, showing her the ins and outs of the jewelry industry.
“Working with her played a big role in my success,” she says. “She gave me the tools I needed to be successful, and I was able to help her with her business as well, so it was a win-win.”
Hattie’s small, home-based business is now an elevated jewelry line in New York City called Hattie Banks, which creates sophisticated pieces that quickly became favorites among celebrities and social media influencers. Her pieces are based on her childhood memories riding horses and on the beach, and are built to withstand daily wear.
Hattie’s jewelry line, called Hattie Banks, is a favorite of celebrities and social media influencers.
Hattie says that her experience as a Clemson PRTM student taught her the importance of being a team player, and that she now looks for that quality in her employees.
“The Clemson PRTM program let us make mistakes, and then they guided us through fixing them,” she says. “Now when I hire someone new, I need to be sure they’re comfortable working in an environment that gives them the freedom to make mistakes, because that’s the only way we’ll get bigger and better.”
She also now focuses on paying it forward, by providing similar mentorship to other women starting their own businesses.
“If someone didn’t help me, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” she says. “I find it really important to give back. You have to.”
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.
Chris Lehnertz (left) receives her award from its namesake, former National Park Service Director Fran Mainella, at the Hartzog awards ceremony.
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 21st 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.
Clemson youth development researcher and Associate Professor Dr. Ed Bowers.
“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.
Dr. Bowers is applying positive youth development models in other countries and environments to determine how measures of youth success may need to be adjusted, depending on where youth live.
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.”
Ed Bowers (back row, right) in Senegal last June with student-athletes and staff that participated in a school build trek organized by buildOn.
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.
Dr. Ryan Sharp shared this year’s Benton H. Box award with Dr. Steve Trombolak.
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.
Dr. Brownlee (left) with members of the Box family and Dr. Sharp’s Benton H. Box award. Dr. Sharp was unable to attend the ceremony.
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.
