Tag: PRTM EDGE

When Nicole Entrup first started her undergraduate degree program at Clemson University, she didn’t think that studying abroad would be an option.

“I’m from 12 hours away in New Jersey, so was already paying out-of-state tuition,” Nicole said. “When you think of study abroad, you think of this big cost, and I just didn’t think that it would necessarily be financially attainable.”

A recreational therapy major in the Department Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, Nicole had always been curious about what the field was like in other parts of the world. When she was planning her upcoming academic year, her advisor told her that a core degree requirement could be completed as a study abroad in Australia, and that the cost was similar to in-state tuition.

“The in-state tuition for EDGE in Australia made studying abroad a lot more feasible for me,” she said. “I think that also being away from home kind of opened my mind to it too, because if I could handle coming to Clemson, I could also handle going abroad to another country to see what recreational therapy and adaptive sports look like there.”

All students majoring in parks, recreation and tourism management (PRTM) are required to take a semester-long program called EDGE as part of their undergraduate degree. The focus of the semester is to prepare students for their chosen profession, while also helping them build skills and knowledge needed to succeed, such as critical thinking, problem solving, creativity and collaboration.

Throughout the PRTM EDGE semester, students take advantage of multiple opportunities to learn content through the use of innovative teaching methods, undergraduate research, real-world experiences and experiential learning. Students taking the EDGE Abroad program in Australia benefit from an international context to their classroom instruction, giving them the opportunity to build global connections while exploring a different part of the world.

Nicole appreciated the program format, which gave her a manageable balance between classroom learning and building her own industry connections in her free time.

“It was a really good balance of working hard Monday through Thursday, and then you have the weekend to travel, because we don’t have Friday class,” said Nicole. “Every Wednesday would be an educational field trip to somewhere like the Australia Zoo, but we’d be there to learn from them, so it was a really cool, interactive learning experience.”

One of the connections Nicole made during her spare time was with the Sporting Wheelies and Disabled Association, which works to ensure that every Queenslander with a disability will have opportunities to live a more active and healthy life.

Nicole reached out to the group, attended one of their workshops and then arranged for her study abroad cohort to participate in a wheelchair basketball practice and learn more about the organization and the people it serves.

PRTM EDGE Abroad is led by PRTM faculty members Teresa Tucker and Charles Chancellor. Chancellor says that Nicole’s initiative created an exciting learning opportunity for both the students in her class and future EDGE Abroad students.

“She singlehandedly sought out the Sporting Wheelies and set up a field experience for the entire class to attend a workshop to learn about the organization that included a chance to meet and play wheelchair basketball with the athletes,” Chancellor said. “The evening was a huge hit and highlight for the entire class regardless of their emphasis area.”

Chancellor added that although EDGE Abroad students regularly make industry connections during the trip, it’s rare for a student to introduce a new industry connection for the program. The Sporting Wheelies event is now a regularly scheduled field experience on the EDGE Abroad itinerary.

Nicole is now working with recreational therapy faculty member Jasmine Townsend to involve the Sporting Wheelies in an international study of adaptive sport organizations. Nicole is also planning to pursue a master’s degree in recreational therapy after graduation, while looking for other ways to grow her Australian connections.

“I just found out that Brisbane, which is the city we stayed in, was just announced as the preferred host location for the 2032 Paralympic Summer Games,” Nicole said. “Hopefully by the time I’ve graduated and been in the field a bit, I can make my way back there with the Paralympics.”

While the on campus EDGE program is offered each fall, spring and summer, EDGE Abroad in Australia is only offered during spring semesters. Signups are underway for Spring 2022 and students are encouraged to contact their academic advisor for details.

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.

What do Disneyworld, the US Tennis Association’s National Campus and Camp Boggy Creek have in common?

They are all sites visited by Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management (PRTM) students as part of a multi-day field trip in June that gave students an opportunity to speak directly with professionals in the field about the challenges and successes involved with operating different types of industry organizations.

The trip is part of the department’s Engaging in Diverse, Guided Experiences (EDGE) program, an innovative, immersive experience for sophomores that takes a collaborative approach to delivering core parks, recreation and tourism management content.

Unlike a traditional semester with several classes, the EDGE program incorporates the content of those classes into one learning experience. Learning is reinforced through lectures, small group work, individual assignments, readings, field trips, research and collaborations on real-world issues.

Field trips are designed to get students out of the classroom to see parks, recreation and tourism agencies in action, says Dr. Teresa Tucker, PRTM EDGE Program Coordinator and Senior Lecturer.

“Seeing concepts they’ve learned in the classroom being applied in the field, and in different settings, gives our students a better understanding of the qualifications and skills they’re going to need to succeed after they graduate,” she added.

The trip was planned to focus on topics that affect all parks, recreation and tourism management agencies, such as facility operations, administration, finance, marketing, programming and risk management. Students traveled to Orlando and Eustis, Florida to learn about leadership strategies from the Disney business model, tour the US Tennis Association’s national campus, and talk to Camp Boggy Creek Director David Mann about managing a camp for children and families with serious illnesses.

Tucker says that students left with a well-rounded understanding of the different challenges these organizations face and how they address them, and that the trip also helped to create lasting relationships between students and program faculty.

“This trip helps reinforce core concepts in our field, which is important,” says Tucker. “But it’s also rewarding to see these trips help our students create lasting bonds with their fellow students and faculty – relationships that can help them succeed with their degree, and that they can continue to rely on as they build their careers after graduation.”

Read more about the EDGE program:

• EDGE Abroad program sends eight Clemson students to Europe (February 9, 2016)
• PRTM EDGE team awarded Clemson University’s Phil Prince Award for Innovation in Teaching (August 19, 2014)