Like life on the road and working (or playing) in the great outdoors? If earning college credit for canoeing, rafting, kayaking or rock climbing sounds intriguing, maybe it’s time to consider an outdoor recreation leadership degree.
According to Todd M. Davis, assistant professor and director of the Delta State University outdoor recreation administration and education program, there’s a $700 billion industry waiting for your expertise.
Delta State, which is the home of the Fighting Okra and located in Cleveland, Miss., offers a four-year degree in outdoor recreation education.
Davis currently holds the Dave Heflin Professorship, which was established in 2008, to honor Heflin. Heflin is considered a pioneer in the outdoor recreation world.
Lynn Brandon, a classmate and old friend of Heflin, says his work is the reason for many of the safety and education protocols you find in outdoor recreation centers today.
Brandon, who spent many years running an outdoor recreation department at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C., says that river rafting safety is one of the areas Heflin shined in during his work.
Her nearly 25 years working with students in outdoor recreation came after Heflin recommended her for the position at WCU.
She says that going to work at the outdoor centers and outfitters is one way to break into outdoor recreation careers, but there’s a difference in getting a degree in the field.
“The education side you get is unmatched at a university,” she says. “You get training in safety, working with people, and real access to the equipment and types of events and scenarios you would before you’re out in the field.”
Davis, who has led the outdoor recreation program at Delta State since 2008, has quite the background too. He was a Coast Guard swimmer for seven years and while he was stationed in Massachusetts, he started a kayak business. He rented canoes and kayaks while teaching safety workshops. He’s held numerous positions in recreation leadership and has helped develop the outdoor recreation leadership program into a .
View inside the Dave Heflin Outdoor Recreation Laboratory at Delta State University. [Photo/DSU]
Davis says that there are a few tracks for students interested in earning a bachelor’s degree in outdoor recreation. For one, Delta State offers a Bachelor’s of Science in Recreation Administration.
“This allows students to be immersed in the business administration aspect and the outdoor and municipal aspect of the field – a more generalist degree,” he says. Students wanting to work in a specific discipline are encouraged to earn a master’s degree in a selected field.”
A part of the Division of Health, Physical Education and Recreation (HPER) at Delta State, this degree program opens many doors for students who want to get outside for a living.
The program prepares students to work in community parks and recreation, outdoor education/ teaching, college campus recreation, military and wellness, commercial trade and adventure, research or even play therapy and therapeutic recreation in care and senior living facilities.
“These jobs are for those who are servant leaders and want to instill positive recreational lifestyle habits for others,” Davis says. “The jobs in this field pay well, but are more intrinsically rewarding. Professionals in the outdoor recreation field typically work outside and inside, work well with people, manage large and small scale budgets, and usually have programmatic autonomy.”
Delta State’s facilities are designed to train students for the rigors of working in camps, races, and outdoor adventure outfitters. The school developed a “laboratory” for training students in all things outdoors in 2017.
Named the Dave Heflin Outdoor Recreation Laboratory, the former locker room boasts classroom space, a rock wall, equipment storage and a space for learning the ropes of packing out for an outdoor adventure. There’s even space to practice rope climbing and knot tying in the lab.
Davis led the development of the lab and did what any outdoor enthusiast would do in the situation: repurposed and reused – from the locker room to the wood on the tabletops.
Students who enter the program also have the opportunity to get real outdoor recreation management experience in a few Delta State programs. Students work the OKRA Summer Day Camp and the Delta Down and Dirty Youth Obstacle Challenge Run to get real-world experience while in school.
“Preparing students is a rigorous commitment,” Davis says. “Students must finish university coursework and then complete a 15 week internship at an approved and certified location.”
Advisors and professors do assist with placement, but students are required to secure their own internship.
“The internship truly is the capstone to a student’s academic completion, but the cornerstone to a career beginning,” Davis says.
So, how can you get a job once you have a degree? The good news is that there are many resources and professional organizations available to students set on this career path.
Here’s a list of the organizations that assist in job placement:
· National Recreation and Parks Association (NRPA)
· National Intramural/Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA)
· Association of Experiential Education (AEE)
· Wilderness Education Association (WEA)
· Association for Outdoor Recreation and Education (AORE)
· Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals (SORP)
· Military Morale, Welfare & Recreation (MWR) – Each branch of the military has their own program.
Davis also says that those interested in this field seek out state and regional associations as well as tourism, resort, commercial gear, sales and guide companies.
Click here to learn more about the outdoor recreation administration degree program at Delta State or the Dave Heflin Outdoor Recreation Laboratory.
Dr. Todd M. Davis is an Assistant Professor at Delta State University in Mississippi. Davis comes from an extraordinary background including the owner/operator of Onset Kayak and Canoe Company in Cape Cod, a helicopter rescue swimmer in the U.S. Coast Guard, a K12 physical education teacher/coach, and community parks and recreation. In his eleven years at DSU, Dr. Davis has built a comprehensive outdoor program that encompasses dynamic youth programs to community engagement events and is the host and creator of Turn Row Coaches: A podcast sharing the stories of coaches in the Mississippi Delta, broadcasting March 2019.