​Philip Oberlin - Bird Arena
MY THOUGHTS - INTERNSHIP REFLECTION PAPER
Throughout my internship experience at Bird Arena I was able to utilize many of the skills that I acquired from the Ohio University curriculum. The core of my internship experience was with programming, events and also some facility operations. Almost all of the courses within the curriculum were very helpful in preparing me for taking on these responsibilities.
Since the core of my experience was with the programming aspect of Bird Arena I was able to compare the projects that we presented in the classes with the different programs we offered at Bird Arena. The recreation programming, inclusive recreation and convention and event planning were all courses that allowed me to be prepared for my internship. The reason I feel these courses do such a good job of preparing students for internships and future employment is that they offer field experience or tangible opportunities to learn which transfer into real life skills. The recreation programming offers students the opportunity to plan and create their own facility from start to finish. With that project the student is force to look at the whole facility from top to bottom and take every detail into account, such as the number of employees, programs offered, demographic of the surrounding area, professional salaries, budget, etc. Before that class I don’t think I understood how much detail and planning went into a large operation and it was very rewarding presenting something our group put so much effort into and I was very proud of the product.
Both the inclusive recreation and convention and event planning courses give students the chance to produce a real event and get outside the classroom. In the recreation field I think the more experience outside the classroom the better. You can only grow and develop so much from lectures, quizzes and test. Unless the student is able to go and experience what they are being taught I think some of those lessons in the class room are lost. After being in the inclusive recreation class and participating in the inclusive recreation day I was better prepared for the event that we hosted this spring at Bird Arena. I knew what to expect from Expanding YOUR Horizons participants and was able to project what obstacles our facility may have for some of the participants. Since, I had worked with EYH in the inclusive recreation class I did my best to prepare contingency plans for participants that wouldn’t be able to skate. We gave locker room tours, allowed participants to walk on the ice rather than using skates and gave them gear to tryout. Without the inclusive recreation class I would have been lost in my preparation for that event but instead it went extremely smoothly and was proud I could be a part of it.
I wish I had better utilized the research and evaluation methods class and the planning and operating recreation areas and facilities in my internship. I would have liked to have used the skills that I acquired in these classes to evaluate my programs and the facility as a whole. I did distribute surveys for Bird Arena’s Learn To Play Hockey program but would have liked to look at some correlations and gathered some more in depth information on the program for the future. In the future Bird Arena may be responsible for its own operating costs, so this spring would have been a great opportunity for me to do some research on how to make Bird Arena more energy efficient. My group from the planning and operating recreation areas and facilities class used Bird Arena as our facility for our project. One suggestion we made was to switch to energy efficient lights and the next year Bird Arena had new lighting but I would have liked to do another independent project similar to that one this spring and didn’t get the opportunity.
The recreation department faculty is extremely helpful in the classroom and outside the classroom. I have talked to many Ohio University students that are graduating in other degrees besides recreation and a lot of them haven’t been properly prepared for entering the professional field. I constantly tell people that the recreation department at Ohio University is amazing at not only preparing their students for jobs but preparing and helping students build resumes, gather interview experience and finding job opportunities. The professional development class was a great way to build my resume and introduced me to the Ohio University Career and Leadership Development Center, which I’ve utilized multiple times after the class. The recreation administration class wasn’t anything like I pictured it to be. It assisted me in creating career goals and how I was going to reach those goals in the future. The class forced me to focus and address the future, which I was putting off for a long time. It didn’t only get me to focus on my current work and my future career but challenged me to be honest about what was most important in my life. In my opinion you won’t find classes and professors in any other field besides recreation that will take time to not only develop their students for future employment but also for life and for that I’m grateful to the Ohio University recreation department faculty.
The thing I learned about myself through this internship experience was that I could be successful in this field. I gained the confidence that I could operate a facility but I also understand that everything is a process. Once you start thinking that you know everything is when you’ll get burned. I learned that you should always strive to get better and continue to learn from the people around you. I’ve learned that there are many obstacles to navigate around within the recreation field, whether it’s new personnel, budget issues, holes in the ice surface or customer complaints, you have to take them all in stride and continue to move forward.
Personally I need to become more competent with technology. Things such as paper or hard copy registrations and payment are all moving toward online. I think it would be a good professional move for me to take some of the basic MIS courses or try and find some way to familiarize myself with more online systems.
My impression of the recreation field hasn’t changed due to my experience but I think I have a better understanding of the big picture. Like I stated earlier the recreation programming class allowed us to create a mock facility but after actually getting to see how many different people, departments and moving parts go into each facility and each individual program I have a better handle on the overall field of recreation.
I believe my internship has prepared me to enter the professional field of recreation. With all of the experience I’ve gained I’m confident in my ability but will continue to develop. I would recommend Bird Arena to any recreation management major. It would help if they had a hockey, figure skating or rink background but there are many other opportunities at Bird Arena, such as marketing, facility maintenance, office administration, programming, and hockey operations.
