Alicia - My Boss

I chose to interview my boss, Alicia Jerger, for the post about interviewing a supervisor.

Alicia was born and raised here in Tempe and actively participated in programs and recreational sports that the City of Tempe offered while she was growing up. She played Basketball growing up and, since she was such a large/tall girl, she was quite good and tried to be recruited on to a collegiate basketball team when she graduated high school.

While traveling at an out of state game, the women's rowing coach for San Diego State University saw her playing and started to actively recruit Alicia to become a rower for SDSU. Because of the coaches interest in her, and the promises of being a great rower, Alicia decided to accept the offer and join the Women's Rowing team for SDSU. At SDSU she received her bachelors in Women's Studies because she wanted to become a lawyer, and her minor in Outdoor Recreation.

While at SDSU she worked in the marina where she helped coach junior rowing teams, maintain the facilities and drive large motor boats in and out of the bay for safety reasons. She worked there for 3 years while receiving her bachelors and minor. After having a very fulfilling athletic career at SDSU she moved back to Arizona and was planning on starting her law degree here at ASU. But, during her transition she knew she had to have a job during college, so she applied to the City of Tempe's recreation department on Tempe Town Lake. She knew it would be a good job for her because she had experience, and knew the area well. At the time- it was only temporary.

Under the supervision of Okie O'Connor, Alicia became the Boating Coordinator assistant. Her job was to participate with participants in the programs, help people out with directions, online issues, and registration. She maintained the boathouse of all equipment, got gas, took the trash out, was Head Coach of the junior rowing team, handled money that was due from people participating with events, programs, and classes. She made sure this money was handled properly and given to the city. She also helped set up large events, take them down, and organize other events that were going to take place on Tempe Town Lake.

Alicia worked as Boating Coordinator Assistant for 5 years, until she moved to a higher position in the Special Events department in the City of Tempe. In Special events she helped coordinate with companies such as Iron Man, various marathons, concerts, and awareness organizations (Breast Cancer, disabilities, wounded soldier).

She worked for Special Events for three years, during that three years she received her masters in Parks and Recreation Management with a certificate in Special Events Management. Leaving behind her plans of becoming a lawyer.

In April of 2013, Okie O'Connor passed away leaving the position of Boating Coordinator on Tempe Town Lake opened and without a replacement.  The job was not left open for long because Alicia took it upon herself to step up and take over until a permanent replacement was found. That permanent replacement ended up to be her. Since then, Alicia has been Boating Coordinator of Tempe Town Lake and her new responsibilities now require her to do large things like budgeting for the programs being put on through her facilities, working with teams like Dragon Boats, rowing, and SUPs to help organize races for them on the lake, she maintains the programs and creates the schedule of classes, new classes that are offered, and decides if a class needs to go. She also hires new staff or decides when to let someone go. She directly interacts with the City of Tempe to ensure that all requirements are met and to see if they can add more on or take some things away.

When I asked her what would be in my best interest if I wanted to pursue the same career she has, she said that receiving a masters is basically necessary. And the equivalent of a high school Diploma in the government.  She also said that since I started working in parks and recreation so young, I will have a good resume behind me when I start applying for jobs after college.

When asked about if there were any new trends in the field of parks and recreation, she said that there were. The trends starting to set in are more geared towards social groups that people have kind of ruled out for a long time. Usually popular programs are geared towards kids, teens, and able bodied adults. Now, programs are starting to work with the elderly, and the disabled. Therapy Recreation is no longer meant for private recreation businesses but rather- for everyone.