January 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 34
FUTURE LEADERS
Going Beyond the Degree: Real-Life Education
By Inés Palacios, Ph.D., Kate Mattison, CPRP, and Troy Euton, CPRP
M
any students who are soon-to-be professionals in our field may
struggle with the uncertainty of what to expect when transitioning from school to real-life. We have all been there at some point
in our lives. Our field is rich and full of opportunities, and we
wanted to share our journey and insight with the upcoming generations.
Our backgrounds are diverse:
Troy Euton, who holds a bachelor's
degree in industrial and systems
engineering, worked in the hotel
industry and serves as the director
of the Department of Parks and
Recreation for Gahanna, Ohio, has
been in the parks and recreation
industry for 23 years in four different positions. Kate Mattison, with
a bachelor's in sports management
and a master's in recreation, sports
and tourism, serves as recreation administrator for recreation services in
Dublin, Ohio, and has been in the
industry for eight years. Lastly, Inés
32 Parks & Recreation
Palacios, who holds a bachelor's,
master's and doctorate in parks, recreation and tourism management
and serves as director of recreation
for PlayCore, has been in the private
sector for more than two years and
was previously a professor at North
Carolina State University for more
than three years.
While sharing our experiences
and backgrounds with each other,
we realized that the journey was not
a straight line but a series of turns
that connected us with the park and
recreation field. We also realized
that what we expected to happen
| J A N UA R Y 2 0 1 6 | W W W. N R PA . O R G
after graduation was far from what
reality had in store for us: whether
it was the naïve assumption that we
would immediately be working a
normal nine-to-five gig or the even
more ridiculous assumption that we
would absolutely love our first jobs.
A successful career in parks and recreation requires paying a few dues
and a willingness to get your hands
dirty, but it is attainable if you're
willing to fight for it. We also realized that class material was quite
useful but not used exactly as the
textbook would describe. Adapting
to reality and knowing that not everything is going to go by the book
will make a difference.
Employment Outlook
According to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, as of July 2015, the na-
January 2016 - Parks & Recreation
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