Hello Everyone!

My name is Roger Moore. I am a senior at the University of Montana studying Parks Tourism Recreation Management, with a minor in Communication Studies. I performed my Beyond the Classroom Experience and Internship for Tahoe City Public Utility District in Tahoe City, California.

Me in front of 401 West Lake Main Recreation Office.

My Global Theme is Resources and Sustainability, and my Global Challenge was how to effectively educate kids and adults about the importance of the environment in Lake Tahoe? Both my Global Theme and Global Challenge included learning how to educate people on the importance of Tahoe’s beautiful environment and what I can do to better understand the community.

In May, I arrived in Tahoe City and was amazed by the beauty and culture I discovered. Lake Tahoe’s water is the bluest it has ever been in 100 years! I met my bosses and co-workers who were all genuine people teaching me so much about their lives and what Tahoe’s environment means to them. I was excited to be in an environment that was not just task-focused but focused on people enjoying their jobs/lives.

As an intern cohort we were given an open-ended goal of educating children, which began when I collaborated directly with my colleagues to develop a Recreation Afterschool Program, (RAP) and planning the summer’s Camp Skylandia, a day camp for children 6-11.

Tahoe Lake Elementary School, where the RAP program took place.

Crafts, homework, movies, and other activities occurred here. The following photos are of the schoolyard where outside games and free time for the kids happened.

In this Recreation Afterschool Program, I supervised the children and taught them how to make outdoor crafts. I led them through outdoor games in the schoolyard of Tahoe City’s elementary school. I mentored them when they faced difficulties from other students in the after-school program and learned how to interact with them effectively.

As the Recreation Afterschool Program was in its final weeks my co-workers and I planned for the rest of the summer for Camp Skylandia, a day camp. We planned games, crafts, and activities for the summer. I was happy to participate in this planning session because it included everyone’s input which made for some great plans for the summer.

Camp Skylandia log circle where campers gathered.

Camp Skylandia for campfire, activity choice, and field trips for each week.

Meeks Bay Field Trip with campers playing volleyball.

Beach time.

Eventually, the afterschool program came to an end in the second week of my experience as summer was just beginning. During this time, I got to help plan an end of the year party for the kids with awards that were presented to them with their parents and fellow afterschool students. The awards we created were for what we thought the kids best represented in the program. The party included a nacho bar and ice cream sandwiches for all the kids. Overall, this party was quite successful and made everyone happy.

Then the summer camp we planned for began. At Camp Skylandia I helped assist kids from first through fifth grade. I helped lead them through crafts, games, and campfire songs that were associated with each week’s theme. I was glad to learn so much about working with kids while at Camp Skylandia

In the evenings I learned even more about the Tahoe City community. During the softball league I learned how to keep score for adult softball leagues of various levels, ranging from Men’s League to D1 CO-ED, to D2 CO-ED and finally D3 CO-ED. This helped me reach out to locals and learn about why they enjoyed softball so much. I even met an alumni of the University of Montana, one of which was an umpire.

Scorekeeping Men’s League Softball.

Scorekeeping Men’s League Softball.

Scorekeeping D3 Co-Ed Softball.

Towards the end of my internship experience, I expanded my work horizon into learning about utility management. This work taught me skills of how to manage general maintenance that I may need to do in the future as an adult living fully on my own outside of the academic sphere.

In correlation with Camp Skylandia and Utilities management I also, I was able to help assist in sports camp. This involved playing and refereeing games for children. We played sports such as volleyball, soccer, football, wiffle ball, ultimate frisbee, floor hockey, and basketball.

Rideout Community Center where I assisted with sports camp.

As the end of my experience, I was lucky enough to talk and collaborate with several administrators across the Tahoe City Public Utility District. That allowed leadership skills and how to build a better community in Tahoe City.

For my personal reflection, living and working in Tahoe City, I came to better understand my leadership skills. I realized that personally I come at things from a more assertive leadership mentality to get things done. But I remain a deeply emotional person as well. However, through my experience and reflection I realized that taking a step back in life occasionally is just fine. Nothing must be instantaneous but can come instead in a timely manner.

Also, I realized after going through this experience that building a community and better life for everyone is a win-win solution. Taking a step back allows you to deeply involve more than yourself and taking care of what you think is right. It involves thinking about steps to solving a problem. These steps form trust, reliability, and good relationships across a community. Community fails when people cannot seek out diverse opinions in the community and do not feel heard.

That is why Tahoe City may be changing but it is not too late to make it a place for everyone! As there is something here for everyone that I think cannot be seen without this experience.

Some questions that have been raised from my experience are as follows:

How can I better support myself and others in life?

What does going your way look like in the face of helping others?

How can I listen first and then act in a way that is helpful to all?

What steps can I take to better understand more people that I encounter in life?