Seminars support Community Engagement Award

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

welliott@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

Faculty members in recreation management at Acadia University are donating their time and expertise to offer a series of seminars and workshops in support of the new Lyle Davis Community Engagement Award.

The award is being established, says coordinator Dr. Brenda Robertson, in memory of a former alumnus, colleague and friend who met an untimely death in a climbing accident in 1991.

Davis was the assistant director of admissions at Acadia and later coordinator of research and development services at the Recreation Resource Centre of Nova Scotia. He was an avid outdoor enthusiast, musician and hobbyist.

This financial award will be given annually, Robertson said, in support of a deserving student community engagement initiative.

“We have long intended to establish an initiative in Lyle’s memory and various ideas have been discussed over the years. The Tides are Turning campaign focused upon raising funds in support of student initiatives. It seemed like the ideal time to set up a community engagement award and given Lyle’s interest in community issues, it seemed like a natural fit.”

She added the fact that his son and daughter were in the program was a bit of extra incentive needed to do the work to make this a reality. “We raised over half the required funds in the fall and now our hope is to put the campaign over the top with revenue generated from these workshops.”

Community in the recreation field

Much of Davis’s work was related to planning and community development. “In many ways, he was on the leading edge of thinking about community with the recreation field. The recent focus on community engagement and service learning was very much what he was advocating in the early 1990s at the time of his death.”

Robertson recalls, “Lyle was an engaging individual who worked hard at both his work and his play. He practiced what we preach in this field with regard to active, healthy, balanced lifestyles. Many of the workshops being offered relate to concepts he believed in.”

She suggests Davis felt that life was an adventure to be lived and he did that fully each and every day of his all too short life, and inspired others to do so as well.

“He committed himself fully to the aspects of his life that were important to him: his family, his work, his friends, his community and his leisure. He had a broad range of interests, which included a myriad of outdoor and cultural pursuits. I’m not sure we are trying to keep that alive with this award as much as providing a means to support the community engagement work of students of today so the concept doesn’t get lost in this technological era.”

Myriad target groups

There are myriad target groups that might be interested in the workshops, says Robertson, and they will differ depending upon the workshop.

“In general terms, I suppose we are targeting community recreation service providers and schools, but those involved with and interested in community in a broad sense will find them to be beneficial.”

On June 4, Gary Ness will offer a three-hour session on the new National Coaching Certification Program and its potential to impact sport in communities throughout Nova Scotia.

On June 12, Glyn Bissix will lead a session on the future of recreation in an era of climate change. He says climate change is the greatest challenge of our time; it will, more than any other factor, determine our quality of life.

The third workshop, a daylong outdoor program June 17, will examine adventure education, activity risk management and methods. Scott Hennigar is leader.

On June 21, Alan Warner and Janet Barlow will conduct a one-day workshop on leadership skills in environmental education. This workshop is co-sponsored by the Nova Scotia Outdoor Leadership Development Program and Sense of Wonder Environmental Education.

The fifth session will take place in the fall when John Colton will look at building a sustainable community. It’s scheduled for Oct. 2.

For further information on the workshops or the fund, contact Robertson at 585-1522 or brenda.robertson@acadiau.ca.