Recreation Management and Youth Leadership
Recognizing the Value of Recreation
Whether in the wilderness, a city park or one's own backyard, recreation is essential to a balanced life. An active lifestyle promotes good mental and physical health, builds strong families, and vitalizes communities.
Brigham Young understood that principle when he encouraged recreation among the early settlers of Utah, "that our minds may rest, and or bodies receive that recreation which is proper and necessary to keep up an equilibrium, to promote healthy action to the whole system."
The classes and programs in Recreation Management and Youth Leadership provide students with a stimulating educational environment in the classroom and hands-on experiences in nature that are physically strengthening, intellectually enlarging, and character building-leading to a life-long fitness, learning, and service.
Making the Earth Our Playground and Our Classroom
Graduates enjoy the varied and interesting careers in community and commercial recreation centers, ski resorts, fitness centers, and at universities all over the country. Specialties are available in therapeutic recreation, recreation services, and executive training for the Boy Scouts of America. Courses prepare students in leadership skills, systems and facilities management, budgeting and finance, program development, volunteer recruitment, and the most relevant current programs in the field.
Enjoying a History of Innovative Programs
Students in the department also have the opportunity to participate in unique specialty programs: Camp W.I.L.D. (Wilderness Instruction and Leadership Development_, which involves student interns in outdoor experiences for at-risk youth-helping youth build self-confidence and character, and C.O.L.T. (Conservation and outdoor Leadership Training), an off-capmus program that provides hands-on training in outdoor skills and helps students develop a responsible stewardship philosophy toward the land. Study abroad opportunities such as the semester programs in New Zealand and Australia also provide outdoor recreation skill development in some of the worlds most beautiful and diverse outdoor environments.
Reaching out to Strengthen Youth
The Department of Recreation Management and Youth Leadership created the first academic program in scouting education in the nation following the admonition of Gordon B. Hinckley...
"There is no more significant work in this world than the preparation of boys to become men of capacity, of strength, of integrity, who are qualified to live productive and meaningful lives."
Students in Scouting Education are primarily taught leadership skills that are essential for working as top executives in the nations' numerous scout councils, where the lives of literally millions of boys can be influenced in lasting, positive ways.
Taking the Lead in Family Recreation
The old adage "the family that plays together stays together is in fact an accepted philosophy of the parents and many leisure professionals, yet BYU is the only university in the world to offer a Master's Degree in Youth and Family Recreation taking the lead in teaching others how to effectively improve their lives through family recreation. No greater benefit can be achieved from involvement in recreational activities than the building and strengthening of family relationships. Promoting the values of family recreation throughout the world is a top priority of the department of Recreation Managements and Youth Leadership.