March 2018 - Parks & Recreation - 34

FUTURE LEADERS

Kevin Witte, CPRP, receives his Young
Professional Fellowship plaque from Cindi
Wright, chair of the NRPA Awards Committee,
at last year's conference in New Orleans.

And the Award Goes to...
By Kevin Witte, CPRP

f you did not attend the 2017 Annual Conference in New Orleans, you missed out.
NOLA was my third conference, and I think it was the best one I have been to yet.
I attended interesting sessions, met lots of new people, and enjoyed the parks, facilities and culture of New Orleans. However, all those experiences almost did not
happen. I was able to attend the conference as a Young Professional Fellow. Without that
fellowship, I would have missed this amazing opportunity and the mentoring program.

The Application Process
Like many of you, I work in a modest-sized
department. I am tasked with doing more
with less, and all the other challenges we all
seem to face in our daily lives as park and
recreation professionals. My department
has a training budget that allows for some
great opportunities but only in-state. So, if
I wanted to attend the NRPA conference,
I would have to do so at my own expense.
I attended the NRPA conferences in Las
Vegas and St. Louis through a combination
of volunteering at conference to help with
my registration fee and getting some scholarships from my state association. During
one of the monthly Young Professional
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Parks & Recreation

Network conference calls, someone mentioned that the applications for the Young
Professional Fellowship were available and
they were encouraging people to apply. Following that call, I went online to www.nrpa.
org and saw what an incredible opportunity
the fellowship offered. Travel, hotel, conference registration and a mentor program, all
in one award.
The application is not something to be
taken lightly. You are competing for one of
four spots against other young professionals from across the nation. When completing the application, I focused on what the
award would mean to me, how it would
help my career and what set me apart from

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the crowd. There is a limit to how much
you can write, so you need to tell your story
while being direct.
I highlighted the things I have done
well in my career, such as being involved
in NRPA and the state association, local
awards and achievements and major programs with which I have been involved. I
also shared how I thought I could improve
as a professional and gave examples of areas where I would like to expand my knowledge and how that would help me reach my
career goals. In addition, I reached out to
past fellowship winners to hear about their
experiences and asked them to review what
I was writing.
Receiving the Award
Receiving the " congratulations " email is
one of the best feelings, and the NRPA
awards staff is wonderful. Part of the award
was being paired with a mentor, and my
mentor, who has been very involved with

March 2018 - Parks & Recreation

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