Longwood University Therapeutic Recreation (LUTR) Students, Emma Hass ’28, Ria Gopal ’26, Kelsey Resnick ’26, Nora Shank ’26, and Jackie Gall ’25, and Longwood University Therapeutic Recreation Program Coordinator and Professor, Dr. Ann Bailey Yoelin, attended the Virginia Recreation & Park Society Student Day, a Parks and Recreation Conference providing student-focused content and opportunity to network with other Parks and Recreation professionals including Cathy Orletsky, CTRS®, on Sunday, September 15, 2024 at the Waterside Convention Center in Norfolk, Virginia. LUTR faculty and LUTR Advisory/Alumni Council members go to great lengths to make professional development opportunities in the field available to students. Cathy, both a member of the LUTR Advisory/Alumni Council and conference education committee, played a key role in making this opportunity a reality. Cathy reached out to Dr. Bailey early in the planning phase allowing time for Dr. Bailey to handle the logistics.
Once there, students attended the Keynote Moving from Best Practices to Next Practices, then attended the Virginia Young Professionals Network Meeting, ate lunch and networked with other students and professionals in the field. Next, the students attended the session Recreational Therapy and Inclusion: Continuum of Service in Parks and Recreation, and then they visited the Zen Den for a mini session and, finally, visited the Career Café to learn about job and internship opportunities in the field.
According to both students and professionals, the VRPS Student Day and other professional development opportunities in the field are important for students. Cathy thinks that “it’s so important just to literally leave the comfortable areas that maybe you’re in all the time to meet people, to network, to just be able to think big, to talk with directors of departments, to be able to meet…so many people that are out in just the profession” because “it just takes meeting that one person that ends up connecting you to just the job that you love or to that career or that passion area just by meeting.” Dr. Bailey thinks that “it’s always been a great resource for networking, continuing education, and programming ideas,” and she explained that when she goes to conferences, she comes back with a handful of new things that she didn’t know before she went to the conference which she finds motivating and fun. From the perspective of senior Jackie Gall ’25, it is important for fellow students to take advantage of professional development opportunities in the field because you are “hearing about upcoming things in the field so you’re prepared for the newer things that are coming in.” Similarly, freshman Emma Hass ’28, explained that “now I know where they’re (the field of TR) going to be in the next few years.” LUTR offers other professional development opportunities for students, including the Therapeutic Recreation Showcase and Conference, the Southeast Recreational Therapy Symposium, and VASTRA Workshops, and these contribute to the development of students into professionals.