>> I did my undergraduate degree at Old Dominion University, which is in Norfolk, Virginia,
I'm originally from Northern Virginia and I came
in as a recreation tourism studies major and stayed in that.
I mean, I knew wanted to work in the recreation field in some way back then I had the dream
of being as a park ranger which I think everyone does whose in that field.
And then kind of went through the first couple years of undergrad
and still didn't know what everyone is doing and then I applied to be a trip leader
for the outdoor program at Old Dominion and got hired, that's when I kind of realized
that I wanted to be definitely in the outdoor side of things but I also started
to see it was possible within campus recreation.
So after I graduated I went to Idaho for my internship and I went to a small college
out there as an intern, summer intern, renting out boats,
helping with kayaking classes, things like that.
Came back so I'm 22 or so at this point, came back, taught snow board lessons for a season
and while I was teaching lessons I was applying for graduate assistance ships, I interviewed
and was accepted to the Clemson University program so I was the GA at Clemson for two years
and that's really where I started to get heavily into the campus rec side of things
and learning how that works and realized
that it's not just an outdoor program it's this bigger organization on campus which has
so much more because then you're involved in these other aspects, student affairs,
student affairs, student life, all these other student activities, things like that.
And that's really, really where I saw that it's not just a program
that lead trips I mean there's a lot more involved which I was excited about
and so when I graduated with my masters, as I was getting to graduate,
I was applying for full time positions and applied for the Georgia Southern one,
interviewed, received the offer, I've been here since July.
I graduated in May of this year and been here since July,
so it's a kind of a quick turnaround.