By MYRNA FOSTER
Moapa Valley Progress
Leaders of the Future (LOTF) is a Clark County Parks and Recreation (CCPR) program that’s unique in that participants have to fill out an application and go through an interview to determine whether or not they’ll be chosen.
Elmer Lopez runs the program locally. Lopez began working as the local Recreation Specialist last July, and he oversees most of the CCPR programs in the valley. He received his bachelor’s in Recreation from UNLV and has been working for CCPR since 2010.
After the application process, ten LOTFs were chosen: Zachary Anderson, Jessica Leon, Rebecca Muhlestein, Jesse Robison, Kennen Staton, Jerrick Stastny, Alec Begay, Chase Traasdahl, Gannon Hanevold, and Nathan Waite.
Of the application process, Chase Traasdahl said they had to answer questions about scenarios. He said that the hardest part was describing himself. He had to really think about who he was as a person.
Jessica Leon said she had to rank events or problems from most serious to least serious to show what she’d handle first. She said that Lopez and Cristine Johnson, another CCPC employee, interviewed the applicants.
When asked about the most important thing she’s learned, Leon said, “We’re learning how to apply for jobs.” Leon would like to work as a lifeguard when she’s a little older. “Elmer’s teaching us things to do and not to do that will help us in the future.” She said the skills he’s teaching will help her get better jobs.
Lopez said that each of the LOTFs have been assigned to help with a CCPR program. Tanner Johnson, Chase Traahsdahl, Nathan Waite, and Rebecca Muhlestein help with Sports Camp. Jesse Robison, Kennen Staton, and Jessica Leon help with the Summer Rec program in Overton. Zachary Anderson, Jerrick Stastny, Gannon Hanevold, and Alec Begay help with Summer Rec in Logandale. Chase Traahsdahl, Rebecca Muhlestein, and Tanner Johnson also help with Itty Bitty, a class for four to six year olds.
When asked whether he preferred helping with Sports Camp or Itty Bitty, Traahsdahl said he liked Itty Bitty. “The little kids are funny.” He said it was fun to see how they acted around their friends and that one of the best things about LOTF has been learning how to deal with kids.
Aside from helping with their assigned programs, the LOTFs meet on Friday mornings in the Fine Arts Building.
Last Friday, they sat at a table for the first 15 minutes or so. The LOTFs had all given Lopez a job they’d like to work at—not a career—a job they could apply for as teenagers. Lopez handed out job descriptions and applications for the jobs they’d requested and gave them advice on how to use the descriptions to fill out their applications. He also told them they should use their experiences with LOTF and other activities – like their involvement in Boy Scouts–on their applications. Their assignment was to fill out the application and write a resume. Lopez had given them his own resume as an example to work from.
Then they moved on to what Lopez referred to as Icebreaker Activities. Lopez had cards with activities that he had the LOTFs take turns leading. He said the Icebreaker cards had team-building activities and getting-to-know-you activities.
For their first Icebreaker, the LOTFs had to make a paper airplane. Then they had to write their names, something they liked, and something they didn’t like on the paper airplane. As a group, they threw the airplanes. Lopez let them throw the planes several times. Then they went back to the table with a plane that belonged to somebody else. They read the likes and dislikes, withholding names, and everyone had to guess who the planes belonged to. They guessed pretty easily.
They repeated the activity. Only the second time around, they didn’t write their names on the planes. They still guessed likes and dislikes easily. It was evident that they knew each other quite well.
After a few Icebreakers, they progressed to games. Lopez still had the LOTFs leading.
Muhlestein led the first game, Bird Hunter. It was a variation on dodge ball. As the hunter, Muhlestein had two balls that she had to hit the other players—the birds—with. If she hit one of them, they became a dog and had to retrieve balls for her. This continued until there weren’t any birds left.
Lopez had more than one set of cards with games and activities he said he’d found on the internet. He said the LOTFs learned the games and activities on Fridays and then taught them in the programs they helped with.
Aside from learning and teaching games, Lopez gave them opportunities to come up with their own games. He blew up a bounce house and told them to incorporate it into a game. So the LOTFs used it as home base in a game of tag.
The LOTFs also helped put away some decorations still out from the prior week’s 4th of July Celebration.
For most of the two-hour meeting, Lopez had the LOTFs engaged in both physical activity and critical thinking.
