Week 4 at the Internship

This was a fun filled week, I was so busy sitting in on a number of different meetings , spending the day at a number of different sites, touring a future park site that is in the middle of construction, as well as touring a Boys & Girls Club that is getting built the City of Chandler is paying for. Earlier in the week I spent the day at Snedigar Recreation Center & Sports Complex, this site serves the community with classes, activities and fun from long running programs like Apples to Zebras to their Youth Summer Day camp. Snedigar is also a Sports Complex that has 4 official size baseball fields, 4 Youth official size baseball fields, 8 soccer fields, a cricket field with cricket pitch, skate park, bark park, playgrounds and many more amenities, which is all managed by Nancy Wagner. This is a person whose job is probably the most difficult of all the coordinators in Chandler especially when fall baseball season rolls around. I got to follow Nancy as she worked directly with the facility maintenance director to discuss issues with some of the ball fields and later that afternoon sat in on her bi-weekly meeting with the head of maintenance. The next day I spent the morning at the Chandler Nature Center, this would have been my second visit to the nature center, the first time I visited the facility I really did not get a chance to tour the facility and look in depth all that they do over there. This day gave me that opportunity to do so. I took myself on a self-guided tour, the actual center has four classrooms, exhibit areas, public restrooms, a gift shop, and staff offices. The Chandler Nature Center works with local teachers and school groups to pursue nature-oriented activities that will complement the overall school curriculum of science, math, reading, writing, art and music. Just outside the center is Veterans Oasis Park which covers 113 acres and feature both lush wetland and arid habitat suitable for the diverse plants and wildlife of the Sonoran Desert. The park will also include 4½ miles of trails, wildlife viewing areas; Ramada's and picnic areas; a butterfly and hummingbird habitat; an outdoor amphitheatre; a unique, learning-oriented playground; a 5-acre “urban fishing” lake; and interpretive signs and exhibits. Like mentioned before I am big on nature, environment issues and was we can help resolve them so being here at this center really felt refreshing knowing that Chandler is putting forth the energy to provide citizens with a facility that emphasizes nature and environment education. I also attended the Boys & Girls Club construction meeting with the Recreation Superintendent Sara and got to put on a hard hat and tour the still under construction Chandler Boys & Girls Club. I sat in on the monthly marketing meeting where all the recreation coordinators of the different sites as well as the Superintendent and Recreation Manager all attend, here at this meeting they discuss the latest marketing moves that are happening, logo designs for upcoming events, have a round table discussion on what is going on in their departments, and have a guest speaker come in. Finally to finish off the week I got the opportunity to tour with all the Big Dogs in the Community Services Division the new Paseo Vista Park that is in the middle of construction. What makes this park unique is that it is being build on top of a landfill. The City of Chandler landfill ceased public operations in 2005. This 64-acre area will soon be converted into a multi-purpose recreation facility. Because of federal landfill closure regulations, and due to settling and drainage issues, the development of typical park amenities is limited on this site. The amenities include, but are not limited to: an archery range, dog park, disc golf course, horseshoe pits, basketball and volleyball courts, a children’s play area, picnic Ramada's, and a nature walk and other trails. This was really exciting to go on this tour and learn about all the background details and information that is going into the development of this multi-use park.