Chelsea Jones
Texas A&M University

Please provide a statement of your personal views on the role and contributions of collegiate recreation in higher education. In your response describe how collegiate recreation has influenced your development.

The benefits of campus recreation extend much further than the walls of a facility or the boundaries of a court. I believe that campus recreation creates well-rounded and healthy individuals physically and mentally. Collegiate recreation provides the opportunities to create meaningful relationships that students may not find anywhere else. I believe that campus recreation genuinely provides something for everyone, whether it be fitness opportunities, intramurals, sport clubs, outdoor adventures, wellness programming, or even just a centre on campus for people to come together. The diversity of programs offered and people touched by campus recreation makes its place in higher education so unique. This uniqueness and diversity are something that I am incredibly proud to be a part of.

As a testament to that, I am one of those thousands of people who have felt the effects of collegiate recreation. Not only has it had an impact on my professional life, but my personal life too. Prior to finding campus recreation, I was a struggling university student whose life had little direction and little motivation. My academic pursuits were lackluster with a dismal GPA and my personal life was hanging by a thread. I was not getting the sleep I needed, not taking my role on the softball team seriously, and truly throwing away a lot of opportunities. But that all started to change after my softball club needed a representative to attend an executive committee meeting. It was destiny from there.

I became heavily involved in my softball club’s leadership team and the sport club programs leadership group as well. That involvement led me to become the University of Regina’s (U of R) first sport clubs student manager. As I piloted this role, I worked as the organizer for all club sport related management, travel, and governance. It was from there that my campus recreation department offered me the opportunity to attend my first ever Canada West Region Conference in Victoria, British Columbia. It was at that conference where I became enthralled with NIRSA and campus recreation. From there the wheels were in motion, the train was leaving the station, and there was no stopping me.

I refused to take no for an answer. I said yes to every opportunity that presented itself and worked twice as hard to leave no door unopened. Due to my newfound motivation with campus recreation, my fellow student employees and I decided we were going to NIRSA in Washington, D.C., whatever it took. We budgeted, planned presentations to funding boards, and prepared a mock itinerary until we became the first U of R group to attend a NIRSA Annual Conference. It was there I discovered the new world that was the campus recreation profession, and it was from that point on that I knew I wanted to be a part of this world.

After attending my first NIRSA Annual Conference, I promptly changed majors in my degree program to sport and recreation management. I began to take my academics seriously; I was seeing a drastic increase in my GPA, and I had a career path that I was passionate about. I was then afforded greater leadership and employment opportunities in the athletic and recreation department. As well, one of the greatest gifts to come from learning about NIRSA was NIRSA’s Bluefishjobs. Thanks to Bluefishjobs, I was able to locate and apply for an internship at the University of Oregon’s Physical Education and Rec Department. Landing that internship was one of my most formative experiences and acts as a motivator for me to this day.

Along this journey, I have not only discovered a career path that I am passionate about, but I have also met and been able to work with some of the most caring and passionate people. The interactions and opportunities for connection that NIRSA and campus recreation provides is something that I enjoy most about this field. It has been extremely fulfilling, both personally and professionally, to connect with so many great people who have had a profound impact on me. One day I hope to be able to return that favor going forward.

Within the context of the NIRSA Strategic Plan, what area/item would you say is a major issue students face today? Please identify a student-driven issue that we are currently facing today and how you would like to address this during your term. How will you create solutions in your role on the Student Leadership Team to address it?

I believe one of the greatest issues students face today is the dramatic shift in how we connect with people and try to create meaningful connections with others. This is addressed in the NIRSA Strategic Plan in strategic priority where NIRSA will reimagine learning, education, and networking.

Over the past 18+ months, face-to-face communication was completely thrown out the window and the necessity for virtual communication became a new way of life. Although there are many benefits to virtual communication, including increased accessibility, audience reach, and no longer needing a physical space to meet, there are some challenges. A major challenge within the virtual space is the lack of genuine connection. Genuine, meaningful connections are formed when you can hear someone’s tone, read their body language, and admire their facial expressions. The virtual space can have tone-deaf emails, no physical space to move your body, and meetings with powered-down cameras. This can make networking and creating genuine connections intimidatingly difficult.

If selected as the NIRSA Student Leader, I think starting the conversation about the major issues students face and how we as a team can address them is the beginning of creating a solution for our new hybrid realities. Taking the time to hear from all members and what they believe to be the issues facing students and working together to collaborate and find creative and successful solutions to those issues.

Going forward we need to be meticulous and thoughtful as to how we as campus recreation students and professionals, meet the needs of students in this virtually connected world. I believe there needs to be in-depth conversations about how we balance the needs of those who want to connect in person with the needs of those who wish to continue in a virtual space. We need to be able to service both in-person and virtual opportunities while still providing that intimate connection that campus recreation does so well. I think this is a prime opportunity for us to innovate how we provide recreation both physically and virtually. Creating such an opportunity that not only creates accessibility, but still offering quality education and services to our members is on the forefront.

In describing your contributions to NIRSA (i.e. presentations, volunteering, previous leadership roles, etc,), identify how your involvement and experiences meet the NIRSA Student Leader position criteria and qualify you to advocate for and serve the students of the Association?

I believe what qualifies me to advocate and serve the students of the Association is that I have been able to see the Association and the opportunities it presents from an international perspective. I originally began my journey in campus recreation at a small school in Saskatchewan, Canada, and have grown to participating in many opportunities in the United States. Therefore, I truly feel that I have a connection to all the regions that NIRSA serves. As well, I have contributed to the Association in several ways through attendance at conferences, presentations at conferences, being a leader during roundtables, and acting as a participant during a panel. I believe all these experiences have allowed me to make many unique connections across both Canada and the United States.

Having been a member in NIRSA since 2016, I have been afforded the opportunity to attend two NIRSA national conferences in both Washington, D.C. and Boston, M.A. As well, I was able to attend a Canada West Region Conference in Victoria, B.C. where Canada was set to become a member of NIRSA at the next annual conference, and the following year attending the first official NIRSA Canada regional conference in Winnipeg, M.B. I have also had the unique opportunity to attend a regional conference in the United States where I attended the Region VI Conference in Salt Lake City, U.T. Lastly, I was entrusted to host and attend the NIRSA Canada West Region Conference in Regina, SK; but I will have more on that shortly. Going forward, I am thrilled for the opportunity to attend an in-person conference again in Portland, OR for 2022.

One of the greatest honors I have received during my time as a NIRSA member came during my attendance at the NIRSA Annual Conference in Boston in 2019. It was there where I was being nominated for and received a William N. Wasson Student Leadership and Academic Award. It truly was amazing to be honored with such an exceptional award and to be recognized for my leadership and academic achievements. It was receiving that award that solidified the path I was on and pushed me to keeping working towards my dreams.

On top of attending these conferences, I have been fortunate enough to also present and participate in a panel at many of them. My first NIRSA presentation was in Winnipeg where I presented about the recent changes to our sport club protocols and how they had enhanced our program drastically. My second opportunity to present was in Regina, where I presented about a successful collaborative event experience that we hosted at the University of Regina and the logistics behind it. Lastly, I was fortunate enough to be asked to sit on a professional and student panel at the Region VI Conference in Salt Lake City where I was able to address the student attendees. That panel, although it may have been just part of another day for some, was one of my greatest honors. It was incredible to even be asked to join that panel. It is something that still sticks with me today.

Not only have I been able to attend those NIRSA conferences, but I have also been fortunate enough to be able to plan one. In November of 2018, I was the Student Chair for the NIRSA Canada West Conference held in Regina, Saskatchewan. Taking a lead on the hosting duties of the conference, it was my honor to be a leader throughout the conference doing the MC duties during our opening session, conducting morning welcome sessions, leading a student roundtable, and taking on the MC duties during our closing banquet. Although the conference was an astounding amount of work to put on, it was one of the highlights of my time during my undergraduate experiences and something I look back on fondly.

As the NIRSA Student Leader, you have the opportunity to leave a lasting impact on the field of collegiate recreation. With a focus on Student Member Recruitment & Retention, and Student Development what skills, talents, and perspectives would you bring to the Student Leadership Team?

I will bring an incredibly unique perspective to the Student Leadership Team as I have experience in both Canadian and American campus recreation programs. I have experienced large and robust campus recreation programs that serve 65,000+ students and have professional staffs of 40+, but I have also experienced a much smaller school that serves less than 10,000 students and has a single professional staff member. As well, I have been able to work in many different campus departments including sport clubs, intramurals, fitness, wellness, marketing and communications, and events. All these experiences in varying departments have shaped me into who I am today and provides a solid foundation that I can build on going forward in this position.

I believe that I would come to the Student Leadership Team with a unique perspective and understanding of how new and unknown the opportunities that NIRSA provides are to not only Canadian students, but also US students alike. Which, through this position, I hope to be able to recruit and retain many student members through education and understanding of the opportunities available to students. Whether this be through webinars, collaborative social media campaigns, outreach to various campus recreation or sport management departments and other promotional activities. In this position, I would work diligently to reach those who not only already know about NIRSA opportunities, but to ensure we are reaching those who don’t. Through this process, I will ensure that students know and understand the benefits of NIRSA participation and the opportunities it can afford students such as networking, education, travel, and more.

As someone who was unaware of what NIRSA was when I began my journey in campus recreation, I can attest that the plethora of opportunities available can be overwhelming. Therefore, I want to ensure that when recruiting and retaining new individuals that we, as a Student Leadership Team, do so in a way that helps members navigate through the vast offerings NIRSA provides. This could be through a breakdown chart of all of the various opportunities including scholarships, travel, tournament participation, conference attendance, and more. Within this position, I think it’s really important to take the time to breakdown the ways to get involved in each of the different sectors that NIRSA provides students and using that information to ensure clear direction and guidance when talking to students.