My Mentorship Experience

My Placement...

I always knew I wanted to educate others. When I was younger, I made my litter brother play school with me, and I was always the teacher. I thought for a while th

at I wanted to be a traditional, public school teacher. However after discovering my love for working with the disabled community through Special Olympics, I decided teaching in a more recreational setting was a better path for me. However, I did not know of any career that would fully allow me to do this until I received my placement.

I got placed with a wonderful woman named Joy Weir, who works with the Calvert county Parks and Recreation Therapeutic Recreation (TR) Program. She is a certified Recreational Therapist. Her job involves making and implementing programs for those in the community who have disabilities. She also helps families with those who have children or family members with special needs to learn about what resources are available to them for assistance. I did not know that such a career of recreational therapy existed. But I have discovered, thanks to the Mentorship Program, that this career path is perfect for me.

My Experience....

I did numerous things while paired with Ms. Joy. I attended workshops, community-oriented events, and TR programs such as therapeutic swimming classes, sports clinics, and toddler skill-building seminars/activities. In addition, Ms. Joy organizes a program called the Healthy Lifestyles Class, which takes place at the Career and Technology Center in the "Learning for Independence" class. This class implements physical activity and healthy eating habits into the classroom for disabled people, ages 18-21. I have helped with this class three times and it was one of my favorite things to help with. We have taken field trips to the World Gym to take spin classes, as well as getting the students registered for gym memberships. Students are also asked to keep a food log to track their eating every week. Discovering that classroom educational and recreational education can go hand in hand has enlightened me to many possible opportunities and/or ideas.

My Future....

One of my long term goals is to become a certified Recreational Therapist after attending Frostburg State University and earning my bachelor's degree in Parks and Recreation Management and Therapeutic Recreation. I plan to pursue a career within that field, however my eventual goal is to open my own recreational center and dance st5udio for disabled persons. Combining all of my passions of teaching, working with special needs, and dancing, would make working every day extremely enjoyable. I cannot wait to see where this field of Therapeutic Recreation takes me!