Each year, Campus Recreation professional and student staff work together to nominate and award three top performing employees. The 2020-2021 award nominees and winners are listed below. Congratulations everyone!

Dave Ames is a former Director of Recreation at UMaine, and his leadership, mentorship and excellence is our inspiration for naming this award for him and in thinking of nominees. The nominees were:

Intramurals – Ashleigh B.

Everything Ashleigh has contributed to Campus Rec/Intramurals has always been at the highest standards. Along with her contributions with my program, Ashleigh has also been part of Dale’s staff for Sport Clubs. What I believe separates Ashleigh from the other outstanding nominations, is the many hats she wears. She is a Student Intramural Supervisor – This position alone warrants a strong consideration for the Dave Ames award with the amount of responsibility they have every night running the Intramural Program. Soccer Officials Trainer Coordinator – Ashleigh is responsible for training all of the soccer officials and just like the Intramural supervisor position, she does an outstanding job. Marketing Coordinator for Intramurals – Ashleigh basically started this position and has made major strides on establishing  some outstanding ideas on marketing Intramurals. Soccer Official – For the last two years, Ashleigh has been our top soccer official. Ashleigh’s impact on Intramurals will be long lasting after she graduates. She has been a difference maker. Along with being an outstanding worker for Campus Recreation, Ashleigh has also made major contributions for the students at UMaine. Just recently she was one of the major players in getting the graduating students the opportunity to have a walking ceremony for graduation. I have been very fortunate to have Ashleigh as part of my staff. She was also my nominee for the outstanding undergraduate student that Student Employment has each year.

Fitness – Jared K.

Jared started working with the Fitness department last year and has been a go to for basically all of the department’s needs. Jared has taken on numerous new program ideas and projects including attempting an outdoor workout class during single digit weather without hesitation! It has been a tumultuous year for many and Jared being the President of his fraternity has had his fair share of issues outside of campus recreation that he has to attend to as well without missing a beat. During a year where we have been allowed very few programs indoors Jared has gone above and beyond trying to find ways to keep working, including working on location with Old Town Police Department training a new recruit to pass his PT test…which he successfully did! I would like to nominate Jared for the Dave Ames award as I feel he embodies the award completely!

Maine Bound – Mackenzie C.

Mack joined Maine Bound in August Fall of 2018, she started working at the front desk and in the climbing wall program and has since become our Gear and Rentals manager, trips staff, challenge course facilitator and a mentor to all of our students. Her energy and passion for outdoor education radiates through our entire staff and every person she works within her roles at Maine Bound. Mackenzie is not only an incredible staff member but is also constantly motivated to learn and grow as a professional. She is constantly willing to go out of her way to help others and be a team player, picking up shifts, helping others learn new skills, or doing some of the less desirable tasks around Maine Bound. One of Mackenzie’s biggest strengths is her ability to empathize with people, she constantly is listening to each group of participants and is constantly working to better the program. Lastly, her dedication to excellence and attention to detail is exceptional, from planning logistics for a trip, to designing lessons and facilitation plans, and even when cleaning our equipment room, you can count on Mackenzie to excel in all areas.

Front Desk / Manager – Delaney L. 

Delaney always goes above and beyond what is expected of her; her reliability is unparalleled among our staff. She frequently opens the facility, steps up to help train new staff members and can always be counted on to help cover a shift when needed. Delaney is also quick to respond to student staff and supervisor communications, whether they be text, call, or email. She can be counted on to be productive on slow shifts and she can be observed doing everything from cleaning the front desk area, monitoring the facility, and helping others find coverage when they are struggling to do so. She does not leave problems unresolved or leave them for another coworker. She goes the extra mile to meet member needs by seeking further information or by helping to connect them with the appropriate professional staff. She is a source of valuable feedback for us on processes, procedures, and informational/training materials for desk staff. In recognition of her value to our area, she has been given further responsibility by having been selected for a Team Leader role. She also has a strong influence on her peers, especially through her exemplary customer service and knowledge of the database and of facility operations.  Delaney has also been responsible for training new student staff upon hire. She has played an important role in facilitating numerous changes in the front desk area. Delaney is the gold standard for quality and constantly leads by example. Anything she generates generally requires, at most, only the most minor edits before presentation or implementation. She is a benchmark for customer service, general competency, and problem-solving skills for our desk staff. Delaney is very approachable and one of the few student staff that co-workers seek out when they have questions or concerns. Delaney is widely trusted and respected, by both supervisors and coworkers alike. She has the ability to maintain composure and logically handle various situations including difficult customers, emergencies, and major work changes. She is both confident and humble, possessing the capability to handle constructive criticism and the willingness to adjust her own actions. She acts with patience when passing knowledge to her peers and her overall friendliness has led to her being on a first-name basis with many of our members.  

Aquatics – Dakota H.

Dakota is our lead swim instructor and has been incredibly adaptable, innovative and has fostered collaboration amongst her peers. Swim lessons are one of the programs that have been hit the hardest with all of the COVID restrictions. Once the building shut down, Dakota promptly extended herself to create digital content for “water safety Wednesdays”. She collaborated with two other swim instructors to create the content and edit the videos. This was a weekly series of videos that focused on providing water safety tips and dryland activities for children. This series produced eight videos in total and they can be found here. When returning for the semester and without the full ability to schedule swim lessons, Dakota accepted alternative responsibilities to support current programming. Dakota created all of the virtual content for the person recognition for Black History month and Women’s History month. Dakota had not used canva previous to this opportunity and taught herself how to use the website. This past semester Dakota organized a training titled “behavior management” that directly applied what she was learning as an education major to swim lessons. Her training was informative, interactive and creative. It was originally formatted for an in person training but she was able to adapt it to be virtual. Right now Dakota is focusing on planning water safety day. In this initiative she is planning a virtual event to celebrate international water safety day. Here, she is also collaborating with two other swim instructors to create the virtual content and edit the videos for the virtual event. Dakota fully deserves the nomination of the Dave Ames award for her commitment to the organization, flexibility during COVID, adaptability with job responsibilities, and efforts to collaborate with others. Dakota is an advocate for her area of responsibility even without the presence of swim lessons.

Operations – PJ P.

PJ is one of the best!   He has an outstanding work ethic and is great to work with. He holds down multiple jobs while working on a degree in engineering.  PJ is always willing to help out and also gets along well with everyone.

Shirley Ladd was a building manager at the Rec Center who tragically lost her life in 2012 while hiking in Acadia National Park. She was well known for her outgoing personality and outstanding customer service. She was always ready with a smile and a laugh. Shirley was a caring person who made work enjoyable for all around her. Shirley was a strong leader among her peers and could do any job in the Rec Center.

Anthony has been officiating for four years now and has become our top football official. Along with being our top football official, Anthony took over training all new football officials and has done an outstanding job in this role.  Anthony exemplifies what it takes to be an outstanding official.