March 2021 - Parks & Recreation - 49

" ...PARKS seem relatively simple and
straightforward. People frequently say, " It's
not rocket science, it's just a park. "

NO! For rockets...you [just] need to be

IMAGE COURTESY OF DAVID BARTH

Want to learn how the technology used to 3D print houses on Mars
can help build affordable housing
(and even playgrounds) on Earth?
Come listen to Professor José Pinto
Duarte, the Stuckeman chair in
design innovation and director of
the Stuckeman Center for Design
Computing at the Pennsylvania
State University, share his team's
NASA award-winning work.
Ever wonder how virtual reality
(VR) can help bring people together?
Hear Ahn Hyo-jin, CEO of Tekton
Space - a leading VR company in
Seoul, South Korea - discuss the experience of working with the American Red Cross to help war refugees
re-experience their homeland.
To identify what true accessibility and inclusion looks like. In our
daily lives, we go about so many
mundane tasks - such as getting up
from a chair to get some water, ordering food via a mobile app or taking
a walk - often without consciously thinking about them. We end up
looking at public spaces or experiences and falsely assuming that they are
accessible because they check the box
of the minimum required, or they are
accessible and inclusive to us.
Just ask Madeline Delp, Ms.
Wheelchair USA 2017 and the first
paraplegic to BASE jump in the United States and rock climb the cliffs of
Mount Rushmore, about her accessibility challenges and experiences
around the world, as she attempts to
become the first woman to compete
in a Miss USA pageant in a wheelchair.
Ryan Maliszewski is CEO of
Mozzeria, Washington, D.C.'s
first Deaf-owned and operated restaurant, which opened its
doors during the worst pandemic in
100 years. As a Deaf person, Ryan
doesn't suffer from " hearing loss, "
he was gifted with " Deaf Gain. "

good at math. Parks require math plus
horticulture, hydrology, psychology,
sociology and communication. They
are immensely complicated. "
From working on Capitol Hill to being a change agent at the FBI, to
becoming the director of the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute
at Gallaudet University, and now, in
the Neapolitan wood-fired pizza
business as a CEO, his life story will
share lessons to create a culture that
prioritizes equitable opportunities
and truly inclusive experiences.
To learn a different history than
you thought you knew. February was Black History Month and
March is Women's History Month,
and yet, so much of the history we
learn is one-sided and filled with incomplete narratives wrapped in stereotypical representations. Have you
ever wondered about the history of
the land that every one of our parks
is built on? Is Thanksgiving truly a
" happy " occasion for everyone?
Professor Sara Sinclair is an oral
historian of the Cree-Ojibwa tribe,
German-Jewish and British descent,
who teaches the oral history master's program at Columbia University in New York City. She conducted
interviews to explore narratives of
university-educated,
reservationraised Native North Americans
on returning to their nations after
school. Her book, How We Go Home:
Voices from Indigenous North America, shares why we need to amplify

current narratives and how we can
think of land acknowledgement and
beyond. What's more, she will be
talking more about the Cree-Ojibwa
during her presentation.
To have tough conversations
around equity and access. A key
event partner is the National Recreation and Park Ethnic Minority
Society (NRPEMS). Chris Bass,
assistant director of Douglasville
(Georgia) Parks and Recreation,
states, " In 2020, NRPEMS developed its strategic plan where our
focus was to stimulate and perpetuate cultural competence for all
recreation professionals by way of
diversity, equity and inclusion. As a
board member for NRPEMS and a
team member of TEDxCollegePark,
I am confident that this virtual event
will not only help our members hear
new ideas, but also ignite a spark
that is needed to create an 'equal future' for all. "
If you care about building future
generations of kids who can be
leaders on and off the field, Reggie Williams has an idea worth
spreading. A college football Hall
of Famer and former NFL player who played 14 seasons for the
Cincinnati Bengals, Williams oversaw the creation of Disney's Wide
World of Sports Complex (now

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Parks & Recreation

March 2021 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2021 - Parks & Recreation