December 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 49

Among the many exhibit floor highlights
were a scavenger hunt, daily door prize,
daily cash giveaway, speed sessions and
other special events.
recreation at Best of the Best. The
awards ceremony was sponsored
by Play & Park Structures and
featured guest speaker Dr. Temple
Grandin, who shared with the audience
about the importance of including
different kinds of thinkers
in our design processes. " Engineers
calculate risk; visual thinkers see
it, " she says.
Following Dr. Grandin's speech,
emcee Neelay Bhatt led the recognition
of
newly
CAPRAaccredited
and reaccredited park
and recreation agencies, certified
professionals, scholarship and fellowship
recipients, and the following
2022 award winners:
Spotlight Awards
* Robert M. Artz Advocate
Award - Ted Schoenborn; Bend
(Oregon) Park and Recreation
District
* Robert W. Crawford Young
Professional Award - Kristen
Herndon, CPRE; Person County
(North Carolina) Recreation,
Arts and Parks
* RWJF-NRPA Award for Health
Equity - Velma Bailey; Saint
Louis Torchbearers 2
* National Distinguished Professional
Award - Dr. Michal Anne
Lord; Texas Recreation and Park
Society
Innovation Awards
* Innovation in Health - Tallahassee
Senior Center UPSLIDE;
Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood
Affairs Department; Tallahassee,
Florida
* Innovation in Conservation -
Palos Preserves Urban Night Sky
Place; Forest Preserves of Cook
County; Cook County, Illinois
* Innovation in Equity - Hillsborough
County Wheelchair Football;
Hillsborough County Parks
and Recreation; Tampa, Florida
Design
* Innovation in
Park
- Maker Playground;
Fishers
Parks and Recreation Department;
Fishers, Indiana
* Best in Innovation - Palos Preserves
Urban Night Sky Place;
Forest Preserves of Cook County;
Cook County, Illinois
Fun in the Valley of the
Sun!
Some attendees arrived in Phoenix
a day or two before the start of conference
to partake in special events
and networking opportunities. On
Monday, September 19, some park
and recreation colleagues took to
the fairway to compete in NRPA's
golf tournament at the Whirlwind
Golf Club at Wild Horse Pass,
while others went horseback riding
or on special tours of Hance
Park Conservancy, Rio Salado
or Maricopa County Parks' Lake
Pleasant. The next evening, conference
goers headed to the Duce in
downtown Phoenix for the NRPA
Opening Reception sponsored by
GameTime, where they caught up
with longtime colleagues while enjoying
cocktails, food and music.
Others, however, opted for a more
Zen-like experience on Wednesday,
September 21, at sunrise yoga
at the Japanese Friendship Garden
of Phoenix. NRPA began the final
day of conference early Thursday
morning with the 5K Fun Run
Walk and Roll in the historical
Heritage Square Park.
For those wondering about the
overall conference experience, Jay
Tryon, superintendent of community
recreation, Mecklenburg County
Park and Recreation in Charlotte,
North Carolina, says: " The NRPA
Annual Conference is my favorite
week of the year. I look forward to
the conference every year and return
home motivated and energized to
continue to grow our teams and improve
the lives we serve. When you
bring 6,000 passionate professionals
together, amazing things happen
and the impacts we make every day
become known and shared so we
can continue to serve. "
Mark your calendars for the 2023
NRPA Annual Conference, October
10-12, in Dallas, Texas.
Vitisia Paynich is Executive Editor and Director, Print and
Online Content at NRPA (vpaynich@nrpa.org). Lindsay
Hogeboom is Managing Editor of Parks & Recreation
magazine (lhogeboom@nrpa.org) Jennifer Fulcher is Manager
of Online Content at NRPA (jnguyen@nrpa.org).
PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G | DECEMBER 2 0 22 | Parks & Recreation
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December 2022 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2022 - Parks & Recreation
