By Jackie Luskey

Collegiate recreation graduate assistants are at a crux in their career paths.

They must balance a student identity with a professional one.

Furthermore, the experiences and actions of NIRSA Students help build their personal brands that will carry them to the next phase in their professional life.

Katie Evans, the Graduate Assistant for Fitness and Wellness at Oakland University, knows this balance very well.

This month, we caught up with this self-described “certified pep machine” to see how she steers through this exciting time.

Along with fellow NIRSA member Sarah Button, Katie Evans (left) brings pep and expertise to her graduate assistantship role.

In collegiate recreation, there are all sorts of paths into our profession. NIRSA Student Member, Katie Evans, found her way earlier than most. It all started during her junior year of high-school: Katie had a “life-changing experience” when she began working out to exercise DVDs in her basement alongside her mother. Ever since, she’s dreamt of having her own workout series. The new ritual sparked a new regime of balanced eating, fitness, and overall wellness.

After high school, Katie attended college out-of-state at North Carolina State University. Far away from home, Katie gravitated towards what was comfortable—the gym. What she wasn’t expecting was the strong NIRSA community she would find while taking instructor training courses and teaching group fitness classes. Soon enough, she had embedded herself in the family of NIRSA and her campus’ recreation department, becoming the Student Director of Personal Training.

Attending her first NIRSA Annual Conference last year in Tampa, Florida, Katie experienced NIRSA 2012 as Student Member looking for her next step. All in one whirlwind week, Katie found herself interviewing for, applying to, and accepting a graduate assistant position for Fitness and Wellness at Oakland University.

Now as a graduate assistant with one more year to go, Katie was able to enjoy NIRSA 2013 without the pressures and time constraints of interviewing. With time to attend sessions, Katie said that she was able to return to Oakland University “with a new attitude, new energy, and new ideas.” But don’t let that fool you—Katie actually brought these same attributes to the Annual Conference, amplifying the positivity and charge of those who attended her Fitness Forum. As a NIRSA member contributing to conference programming, Katie said, “If someone who is reading this can take one thing away, it would be that instructing a fitness class at the NIRSA conference has been the most rewarding, gratifying, and best networking experience I’ve ever had. Having participants come up to me after the workout and introduce themselves has been the best networking tool.”

Like many of her NIRSA peers, Katie successfully made the jump from an undergraduate student employee to a graduate assistant in collegiate recreation; however, graduate assistants continue to live in a special time of transition, continuing their journeys to full-time professionals. Katie described this unique chapter as “Challenging, but in a good way.”

Even amidst the strong NIRSA community, coming into your own as a recreation professional is a deeply personal one that Katie is charging head on. As a graduate assistant, Katie remarked on her surprise in how she constantly seems to be evaluating her experience and professional path. She said, “It’s scary, yet compels me to search for what aspects I love about this experience and one’s that I could do without.”

As Katie continues defining what collegiate recreation will mean to her and her own career path, she has set ambitious goals for next year. Her plans for her second year as a graduate assistant include developing a student wellness passport program, launching online group fitness workouts for commuter members of Oakland University’s campus, and creating manuals for future generations of graduate assistants.

Katie also navigates the waters between student and professional through the channels of social media. Her blog, K.E.P.T. You Fit, narrates her journey as a NIRSA member, recreation professional, student, and all-around health junkie. Her online work has proven to increase her reach and influence in the greater wellness field. Katie’s blog has sparked opportunities to write for various magazine and online publications, including as a fitness blogger for a lingerie website in North Carolina and as a featured blogger of the week for Active Vixens. Katie said, “I’ve branded myself in a way that exudes my passions, my expertise, and me.” Katie described how her online writing often promotes wellness opportunities in the areas that she serves, saying, “Not only has my blog benefitted me, but also the surrounding community I live in.”

Katie’s enthusiasm for communities of wellbeing has brought her far from her parents’ basement, where it all began with a few workout DVDs. Though, she misses her family and hopes to work closer to them in the future, Katie stresses how important these years exploring collegiate recreation in multiple states have been, helping her develop as an individual. The result of these experiences? Katie said, “I’ve never been more comfortable in my own skin.”

When asked what her advice was for NIRSA members about to embark on their own transition into the professional world of collegiate recreation and beyond, Katie answered: Have no limits.