Dr. Shelby Sharpe || September 8, 2025
Summer is typically viewed as a season of rest and relaxation, but in the field of recreation that is rarely the case. Summer is full of camps, park concerts, and special events for all to enjoy. For the TXST Recreational Therapy Program, Summer 2025 was a season of growth and achievement. In this semester’s report we are thrilled to highlight our current and graduated Bobcats, who’s efforts are leaving an impact in our communities. If you’re new to Recreational Therapy, we’d encourage you to look at our Recreational Therapy Program page for more information.
Over the summer our graduate recreational therapy students engaged in several service-learning opportunities that focused on advancing their therapeutic skills and advocacy practice. Mid-July, Dr. Allie Thomas and graduate students hosted Practice with Purpose. During this event, graduate RT students individually facilitated various RT interventions for residents from Rehab Without Walls (RWW). These residents are diagnosed with varying degrees of Traumatic Brain Injuries; intervention goals focused on addressing physical, social, emotional, and cognitive functioning skills. Specific activities students implemented included vision boards, adaptive sports, trivia and memory games, yoga, and fishing. Through Practice with Purpose, our students had the opportunity to exercise their facilitation skills, conduct activity analyses, research evidence based practice to determine appropriate interventions, and process the residents’ experiences at the end of each session.
The following week are students partnered with Texas Parks & Recreation Society (TRAPS) and the Texas American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) Chapter to host a virtual event “Rec the Future: Advocacy in Motion.” TRAPS and the Texas ATRA Chapter are professional development organizations focused on connecting, advocating, educating, and providing resources for recreation professionals. Rec the Future required the students to provide a 15 minute presentation over a current advocacy issue related to the RT profession and our clients. Our students dedicated extensive time researching literature and policy documents to provide current and relevant information about these topics to professionals. Each of the presentations concluded with a call to action encouraging us to act by contacting legislative representatives, educating each other and clients, and participating in discipline specific research.
To end the semester, our graduate students supported City of Kyle’s Adaptive Field Day. This was a new community event coordinated by Christel Massad, recreational therapist, and therapeutic recreation coordinator for City of Kyle Parks & Recreation. Our graduate students facilitated multiple stations requiring participants to complete a team-oriented task. These tasks required participants to use cognitive, physical, and social skills to be successful. Participants from Kyle’s therapeutic recreation programs enjoyed the evening filled with team challenges, dancing and ending with awards.
We are proud of our RT students and their hard work during an intensive summer semester. Their growth in professional skills and dedication to providing quality programs and events for the community does not go unnoticed.
In addition to these incredible experiences of our current graduate students, we would like to highlight the achievements of Bobcat alumni from our RT program. One of our recent graduates, Brianna Elizondo, is currently the Program Supervisor at CAMP Camp. You can catch Brianna in action in Boerne Lifestyle magazine supporting Camp Discovery, where her camp journey began in 2018. The article “Hope Grows at Camp” discusses the impact of camp life on children and families navigating the unpredictable experiences of cancer.
Next we’d like to highlight Jessica Burke. Jessica is the Accessibility Manager and ADA Coordinator for Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD). With a background in recreational therapy, Jessica has used her expertise to enhance accessibility features, equipment, and trainings making our state parks more inclusive for all visitors. Jessica was recently awarded the TPWD Employee Recognition Award for Special Achievements. She was one of 6 employees, out of 3,500 total employees, to earn this award for Jessica’s incredible work making accessibility a priority. We are incredibly lucky to have this talented professional as per course faculty for our students as well. You can learn more about Jessica’s achievements in this video. Congratulations Jessica on this massive accomplishment!