Internships in Recreation and Leisure Services: A Practical Guide for Students

Authors

  • Wendy Jenkins

Abstract

Internships in Recreation and Leisure Services is a 150 page book published by Venture Publishing of State College, Pennsylvania. This manual is designed to help the student, within the recreation field, prepare for an internship. This manual is divided into seven chapters. Each chapter begins with a quote which reflects the chapter's contents. For instance, Chapter 3 titled 'Search and Research' begins with a quote by Thomas Edison which states "If there's a way to do it better. . . find it". Chapter 7 titled 'Selection and Final Planning' quotes Helen Keller, "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all". In addition, each chapter provides a list oftopics which will be discussed, examples and exercises and a summary of the chapter and addresses what is in the following chapter. Chapter one, 'Self-Assessment' examines the student's self-confidence, personal philosophy, personality traits, professional skills and weaknesses, and attitude towards work. Chapter two, 'Direction' follows the same line as chapter one. Like chapter one, it enables the student to reflect on themselves and their goals for the internship. There are examples of how to write goals and in addition, a sample of other students goals. 'Search and Research', chapter 3, provides information on finding the appropriate agency to do an internship. It identifies characteristics of potential agencies, assesses and helps prioritize the student's needs and preferences, and identifies resources for information on student's chosen agencies. Chapters four through six are similar in that they discuss the business aspect ofgetting an internship. Chapter 4 is dedicated to the preparation ofa cover letter. The format for a cover letter is discussed thoroughly as is the appropriate contents of a cover letter. Identifying errors in a cover letter is the exercise for this chapter. Numerous examples of letters with different styles and contents are provided for review at the end of chapter 4. Chapter 5 is devoted to the preparation of a resume. Chapter 4 examines the format and the content of a resume and provides an exercise for the students to identify errors in several resumes. At the end of the chapter a resume guide and checklist are provided. The interview process is addressed in chapter six. This uses several topics discussed in the 'Self-Assessment' chapter to help develop a foundation for the interview process. The exercises demonstrate typical questions asked in an interview as well as suggested questions for the students to ask the agency. Follow-up after an interview, including samples of correspondence letters, are provided at the end of chapter six. Chapter seven assists the student in choosing the best internship site and how to notify the agency. This chapter uses many of the exercises in the previous chapters to help make the selection ofthe agency. At the conclusion ofchapter seven the student's assignment is to list pros and cons of each agency to assist in their decision. In addition to the seven chapters provided in this manual there is also a list ofresources. This includes general recreation information as well as information on specific areas of recreation, a guide to recreation societies and associations and a list ofrecommended books, manuals and periodicals. This manual is certainly easy to read and comprehend. The chapters are organized in a format that entice the reader to continue and provides a basis for instructors to enhance their pre-internship courses. I feel one of the best aspects about this manual is that it is' designed specifically for internships within the recreation and leisure service field. The examples are all applicable to realistic situations the students may encounter while preparing for or during their internship. A minor weakness I found with this manual is that students may find the exercises to be quite simplistic and therefore will not take the time to complete them. It may be advisable to use class time to complete some exercises or perhaps use them as a basis for group discussions. In conclusion, the authors ofthis manual provide a good basis for preparing students for internships within the recreation and leisure service field. The detailed information is presented in an easy to read manner and it fills a need within the recreation and leisure service field.


Downloads

Issue

Vol. 27 No. 1 (1993)

Section

Book Review

License

Sagamore Publishing LLC (hereinafter the “Copyright Owner”)

Journal Publishing Copyright Agreement for Authors

PLEASE REVIEW OUR POLICIES AND THE PUBLISHING AGREEMENT, AND INDICATE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS BY CHECKING THE ‘AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS COPYRIGHT NOTICE’ CHECKBOX BELOW.

I understand that by submitting an article to Therapeutic Recreation Journal, I am granting the copyright to the article submitted for consideration for publication in Therapeutic Recreation Journal to the Copyright Owner. If after consideration of the Editor of the Therapeutic Recreation Journal, the article is not accepted for publication, all copyright covered under this agreement will be automatically returned to the Author(s).

THE PUBLISHING AGREEMENT

Assignment of Copyright

I hereby assign to the Copyright Owner the copyright in the manuscript I am submitting in this online procedure and any tables, illustrations or other material submitted for publication as part of the manuscript in all forms and media (whether now known or later developed), throughout the world, in all languages, for the full term of copyright, effective when the article is accepted for publication.

Reversion of Rights

Articles may sometimes be accepted for publication but later be rejected in the publication process, even in some cases after public posting in “Articles in Press” form, in which case all rights will revert to the Author.

Retention of Rights for Scholarly Purposes

I understand that I retain or am hereby granted the Retained Rights. The Retained Rights include the right to use the Preprint, Accepted Manuscript, and the Published Journal Article for Personal Use and Internal Institutional Use.

All journal material is under a 12 month embargo. Authors who would like to have their articles available as open access should contact Sagamore-Venture for further information.

In the case of the Accepted Manuscript and the Published Journal Article, the Retained Rights exclude Commercial Use, other than use by the author in a subsequent compilation of the author’s works or to extend the Article to book length form or re-use by the author of portions or excerpts in other works.

Published Journal Article: the author may share a link to the formal publication through the relevant DOI.

Author Representations

  • The Article I have submitted to the journal for review is original, has been written by the stated author(s) and has not been published elsewhere.
  • The Article was not submitted for review to another journal while under review by this journal and will not be submitted to any other journal.
  • The Article contains no libelous or other unlawful statements and does not contain any materials that violate any personal or proprietary rights of any other person or entity.
  • I have obtained written permission from copyright owners for any excerpts from copyrighted works that are included and have credited the sources in the Article.
  • If the Article was prepared jointly with other authors, I have informed the co-author(s) of the terms of this Journal Publishing Agreement and that I am signing on their behalf as their agent, and I am authorized to do so.