By STEPHANIE BUNKER
Moapa Valley Progress
Clark County Parks and Recreation has appointed Lauralyn Robison to be the new Recreation Specialist for the Logandale and Overton area. Robison is replacing Elmer Lopez who has been serving in the position since 2013. Lopez has transferred to a job as an Aquatics Director in Las Vegas.
Robison has worked for Parks and Recreation off and on since 1996 when she began as a Summer Recreation Leader. After two years of being a Rec leader, she became the Site Supervisor over the Bunkerville, Logandale, and Overton Summer Rec. Robison then got married and moved away for a time, but eventually returned.
Her initial interest was to put simply on a youth volleyball camp. “I approached John Stastny and we set a camp up,” Robison said. “A year or two later I started helping with the preschool for a few years.”
By 2010 Robison wanted to get back into the volleyball arena and inquired about being a referee for the games, through this job she got on the payroll for Parks and Rec. Once she was on the payroll, it was an easy transition into filling a one day a week job in the office.
Eventually she took on more days and worked with the Summer Rec again. For the last two years Robison has been over youth sports. “I got to do everything regarding the teams and coaches, order shirts, and work out the schedules, even work the budget and do the money to have the sports run and the staff to run it,” she said.
Robison commented that her children are getting older now and she was looking for another full time position, “I had done several interviews for different positions,” she said. “I was willing to go into Las Vegas and learn that side of things but when this job opened up here in the valley I wasn’t going to pass it up.”
Robison’s education while she was at college has been a resourceful tool for her in this line of work. “If I knew I would have this job I would have taken a different direction in my schooling, but taking Elementary Education classes has also helped me,” Robison said.
She explained that she can organize lesson plans and scheduling better. She understands developmental advances with kids. “That has helped me understand the kids and what to expect from them,” she said.
Robison has been working as the Recreation Specialist since July 3 and has a bright outlook on the future of the Parks and Recreation here in the Logandale Overton area. She has seen an expansion in the youth sports over the last few years.
“It’s hard to keep up with the growth,” she said. “I would like to see us continue to grow and be able to fit in the fields.”
She praised the parents for keeping involved with their children in the sports, saying it improves the youth sport program. She talked about wanting to add sports that get overlooked such as cross country.
“We can get the middle school age kids out competing in cross country and grow the High School team,” she said.
Robison would like to add activities other than sports to fit the needs of local kids. “It can be artistic and we also have kids that love to write,” she said. “I’m open to suggestions from the community of what they want.”
Robison emphasized that Parks and Rec will not be competing with other businesses or classes offered in the Moapa Valley. “We are not for profit, we are in the business of recreation, and we want to find what other things the community is interested in doing.”
Robison wanted to give credit to the former Recreation Specialist, Elmer Lopez. “Elmer brought in great new ideas and I want to build on those. He laid the foundation for that we are doing.”
Robison has enjoyed working with the Parks and Rec office. “I loved being in the office and the people who work there. I have never had a bad day, there are hard days but I have never come home wanting to quit.”
