Our Association thrives through the people who push it forward, cultivate the ideas that help it flourish, mentor and advise fellow members, and continually invest the time, talent, and resources needed to help it sustain and grow. “The thing that has always stood out about NIRSA is the people,” says Stefani Plummer, Director of the Recreation Center at California Baptist University. “We work together from the ground up. It is fundamentally a grassroots organization even though we have grown in size.” And the NIRSA Foundation agrees, which is why it focuses its investment on the lifeblood of NIRSA—it’s members—“Supporting today. Ensuring tomorrow.”
And Stefani knows this first hand. Though she’s living many members’ professional dream now, she began her NIRSA journey as an undergrad who just “happened into teaching aerobics” at the University of California, San Diego, where dedicated NIRSA member Darcy Bingham became “one of
“Once I saw people doing what they loved for a living, I was hooked…So much so that, a few years later, I became a lifetime member!”
It was at Arizona State that she received the, then titled, So-Cal Scramble Scholarship in 1998. The SoCal Region VI Endowment now has four scholarships that provide students from this region the ability to attend our Annual Conference. The scholarship allowed Stefani to attend the 1998 Conference in Salt Lake City. “I remember that I fell in love with it!” she recalls. “Once I saw people doing what they loved for a living, I was hooked…So much so that, a few years later, I became a lifetime member!”
And that commitment wasn’t something she took lightly—making it her “own personal mission to do and learn as much as [she] could about [her] future profession.” And her dedication hasn’t wavered since; as Stefani notes, “I have served on committees and task forces, presented at just about every conference I could, hosted conferences, and served as a student leader.”
Not only was being able to attend the NIRSA Annual Conference—and experiencing its membership and energy in-person—a turning point in her commitment to our Association, but also to her profession in collegiate recreation. “It meant so much,” she says, “that there were people who felt it worthy to invest in me and my future.”
Stefani is especially appreciative because, after many professional years in the field, she understands that this type of investment “is a gamble. I know not all [scholarship] recipients may go into Rec Sports,” she says. And that’s a risk that the NIRSA Foundation must take seriously. Though this arm of the Association is rooted in giving, it must always reconcile that mission with the reality that there is a limited resource pool to draw from. It’s also a gamble for the dedicated members who donate, trusting the Foundation to do what’s best for the future of our Association and profession with their hard-earned funds. However, Foundation scholarship recipients like Stefani prove it’s a gamble that pays dividends.
“I’ve been in Rec Sports for 20 years now,” she says, “and I’m thankful for every investment, nugget of advice, and opportunity that has been given to me to help me progress. It has then allowed me to give back to NIRSA, recreational sports, students, and young professionals.”
Additionally, Stefani is particularly aware of the gamble the NIRSA Foundation and her own NIRSA members took on her because of the daily gambles she takes on her students through mentoring. Though finances are the most readily thought of resource, the time, effort, emotions, and knowledge invested in being a mentor are just as valuable. And, though Stefani models the importance of all types of giving back—“When I believe in something,” she says, “I put my money where my mouth is.”—mentoring is clearly close to her heart.
She became a mentor early in her professional career, and it’s undoubtedly one of her most recognizable qualities. “My folks call me mama bear,” she admits. “Recreation changes lives; I am just a catalyst to help people do it. I consider it a privilege to do what I do. And I feel like I learn something new every day. We are in the business of people and that makes it dynamic…Not too many people can say that about what they do! I do care and just want the best for [the students].”
“It meant so much,” she says, “that there were people who felt it worthy to invest in me and my future.”
And that care is not contingent on professional type or longevity. “I feel like my job mentoring anyone is to plant seeds and help students/young professionals grow,” Stefani says. “One of the best mentoring experiences I have had is with a woman who is now excelling in student affairs. I was able to be a part of her journey through undergrad, graduate school, and her first professional job. It has been an opportunity for me to guide her through successes and ‘teachable moments’.”
And Stefani isn’t fretting that this person’s success has been in student affairs, rather than campus rec. “There aren’t too many experiences that are wasted if students/young professionals are given direction,” she says. And she knows that she has had a hand in making this mentee not just a strong individual through fostering her “drive, commitment, and desire to gives back,” but also a strong campus partner—something that is key as NIRSA continues striving to obtain its vision of inspiring healthy people and communities well beyond the rec center walls.
One of Stefani’s most memorable early NIRSA moments was “meeting Momma Lee Wasson and being welcomed into her family,” which helped connect her “to the foundation of our Association, which is so important. It is so much more than the trends, changes, and growth in our profession. Our foundation is what we stand on. Keeping that alive, and honoring that in our Association is incredibly important.” This experience, and others like it, helped shape her approach to successful mentoring as well.
“I’m thankful for every investment, nugget of advice, and opportunity that has been given to me to help me progress.”
With her students, Stefani focuses on building strong foundations, the kind that will help them become healthy professionals and, most importantly, healthy people. “If I can be a catalyst in getting them connected with other resources and trying new things, I think it plants the seeds,” she reflects. When she “plants the seeds” she starts by asking questions of her mentees that get at the heart of their motivations: “What makes them happy? What have they experienced that gives them joy? How can we find that in the profession of recreation (or their chosen field)?”
She tells her mentees, “Invest in yourself, challenge yourself, and try new things….Be creative and get your hands a little dirty! You never know what area of recreation might inspire you.” Stefani leads by example, showing students and young professionals how a diversity of experiences combined with an open mind “will guide you in ‘paying it forward’ to [those] you come in contact with.”
Stefani says too that “I think I have grown in my mentoring role. I probably took a very gentle role in helping people in the past. In the more recent years, I have matured and I challenge students to go after what they want. My focus is pretty practical. Do they have a resume? Business cards? Joined an association? I do mock interviews and help prepare them.”
And, undoubtedly stemming from her early NIRSA experience and the success of the conference she attended with her scholarship, Stefani also guides students in making the most of opportunities to feel the inspiration and energy of a shared professional community. “I try to take students/ young professionals to conferences and get them networking, meeting vendors, sending thank you notes, and really being present in the experience.”
As for those who keep going in collegiate recreation, Stefani again echoes that they’re “the ones who do this for the people; skills can be taught…I hear people talk about graduating and making a ton of money. That doesn’t have longevity in this field. But when I hear them talk about loving community and impacting students or developing others, I think those people persist.”
“Recreation changes lives; I am just a catalyst to help people do it.”
Once her mentees progress into the field, Stefani’s advice is two-fold as they continue to grow professionally and grow as mentors for others. Be aware of both how you are affecting others, and how they’re affecting you. Our Association is blessed by many fantastic leaders and innovators; Stefani is not only one of those people, but she also knows how crucial their support can be for her own growth. “Believe in yourself,” she says, “and, when you don’t, turn to those who do. I don’t know what I would do without the Darcy Binghams, Julie Kippers, Sam Hirts, Mick Delucas, Dave Kochs, and Juliette Moores who pushed me to think outside of my own box. Amazing people make you better.”
And, she says, be attentive to how those amazing people can guide you. “Never say never. I used to say that I didn’t want to be a director. I thought I was a good number two and could set someone else up for success, but God had other plans and my mentors opened my eyes to the fact that my experiences for the past 20 years actually prepared me to be a director.”
As there’s no progress without risk, it’s comforting to know just how well gambles—personal, professional, and Association-wide—can pay off. “I believe in the contact we have with people,” Stefani says, “whether it is for a short season or lifelong…and I believe in NIRSA and what we stand for.” In this people-focused profession, leaders like Stefani, inspired by gifts of the Foundation, will continue to ensure these beliefs guide the mentoring of others long into the future.
Erin O'Sullivan is currently the Director of Advocacy & Strategic Partnerships at NIRSA.
