KEEPING UP
Matt Colwell Receives National Recreation and Park Association’s 30 Under 30 Honor Congratulations to Matt Colwell from the City of New Brighton for receiving the 30 Under 30 for 2022 from National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA). Colwell began working for the City of New Brighton, as a temporary staffer in the agency’s Mission Possible program. This new program offered students, whose guardians couldn’t work from home during the pandemic, a place to do online learning while their caretakers were away. His impressive work earned him an internship, which led to a full-time position as sports and aquatics specialist. NRPA’s Young Professional Network (YPN) and Parks & Recreation magazine recently presented “30 Under 30.” This recognition program is a joint effort by the YPN and the NRPA magazine to recognize 30 of the top young professionals whose work and contributions have made a lasting difference in their communities. More than 100 nominations were received, forming a diverse group of nominees from 27 different states.
Annual General Meeting Goes Virtual Minnesota Recreation and Park Association held its virtual annual general meeting on January 21, 2022. The professional awards ceremony has been postponed to the spring. MRPA will honor the following outstanding parks and recreation professionals at the MRPA Professional Awards Ceremony: • CLIFTON E. FRENCH AWARD Tom Schmitz, New Ulm • JACK NILES AWARD Alex McKinney, Washington County • DOROTHEA NELSON AWARD Marcia Larson, Bemidji Becky Sola, Shoreview • HORIZON AWARD Jenna Smith, Bloomington • BOARD AND COMMISSION AWARD Thomas P. Anderson, Corcoran
MRPA Awards of Excellence Deadline is February 28 Nominations are now being accepted for the MRPA Awards of Excellence program. This program recognizes agencies in Minnesota for outstanding achievements in parks, recreation, and leisure services for projects completed in 2021. All nominations must be submitted by the application deadline of February 28, 2022. Visit https://mnrpa.org/ Award-Opportunities for application links and information. 1 MINNESOTA Recreation
and Parks • www.mnrpa.org
M INNESOTA REC REATIO N & PAR KS VOLUME 16 | ISSUE 4
• FALL 2021
2021
RECOGNIZING MINNESOTA ORGANIZATIONS FOR OUTSTAN AGENCIES AND DING ACHIEVEM
ENTS
ALSO INSIDE:
• Art Where We Play • 2021 Annual Conference in Review • CorporateConnections: Specialty Product & Service Providers
www.mnrpa.org
Stay Connected on Social Media
As a reminder, MRPA has a Facebook page called MRPA Connections for members to collaborate and share ideas. To join this group visit facebook. com/groups/676051986646073/ In addition, MRPA member Stacy Chouinard with the City of Crystal manages a group called the City Run Recreation Content Creators – MN. This group is for those who want to share posts and help others with their social media content creation. To join this group visit facebook.com/ groups/1418172651970170/
DONATING TO MRPF HAS NEVER BEEN EASIER! 1. Shop for your Amazon purchases at: smile.amazon.com. 2. Designate Minnesota Recreation and Park Foundation as your beneficiary. A portion of your purchase proceeds automatically go to MRPF!
Winter 2022 • MINNESOTA Recreation and Parks 7
