TERRE HAUTE —
Kara S. Kish is a rising star among Indiana’s park and recreation professionals.
At age 28, Kish, the assistant superintendent of the Vigo County Parks and Recreation Department, has been awarded the Young Professional Award from the National Park and Recreation Association.
She will receive the award Nov. 2 at the association’s 2011 Congress & Exposition in Atlanta, Ga.
Kish previously won the 2011 Great Lakes Network Young Professional Award, making her eligible for the national award. There are seven networks under the national association.
Detrick Standford, director of the Clayton County Parks and Recreation Department, nominated Kish for the Great Lakes Network award. In a March letter of support to Kish, Standford said Kish “displayed a strong passion and commitment to our field, with a potential to become part of the influential leadership of NRPA.”
Kish is a 2005 graduate of Indiana State University with a bachelor’s degree in recreation and sports management. In 2010, she completed her master’s degree in public administration, with a concentration in public management, from Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis.
In addition, Kish serves as an adjunct professor for ISU’s Department of Recreation and Sport Management, teaching public administration in parks and recreation and introduction to recreation and sport management.
Keith Ruble, superintendent of the Vigo County Parks and Recreation Department, also wrote a letter of support, stating “in my 30 years as superintendent, I have never had anyone show professional leadership like she [Kish] does.”
Kish updated the park’s five-year master plan in a month, approved without corrections, Ruble said, from the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
Ruble said changes in tax laws resulted in the park department receiving $200,000 less in funding last year. Kish reorganized the park department after having to lay off four full-time workers.
“Her budget enabled the department to be able to operate in the black with all staff members receiving a raise. This raise was the result of updated job descriptions, changes in pay grades and the recognition of the increased work responsibilities of each staff member,” Ruble said.
However, no pay raise was given to Kish or Ruble.
“What makes Kish dynamic is that she has the business sense to look at the big picture when making decisions,” said Mi’Chelle Bettner, executive director of the Indiana Park & Recreation Association, also in a letter of support.
“She is disciplined and she encompasses the qualities of a wonderful leader. She has demonstrated her leadership capabilities since volunteering with the IPRA as a student several years ago.”
Kish started her involvement with parks as a 15-year-old lifeguard at Mentor, Ohio. She moved to Indiana during her senior year of high school, locating at Schererville.
“I started learning how parks and recreation is a function of government, just like police and fire departments,” she said. “When I was in Indiana, I started looking at schools that had parks and recreation programs. Without visiting any campuses, I didn’t do any site visits, I decided on Indiana State, because at the time, they had a park and community emphasis which focused on public recreation.
“Without even visiting, I headed off to Indiana State. I couldn’t have chosen a better school,” Kish said. “I formed wonderful relationships with the professors, became active on the campus and represented the school of Health and Human Performance, serving as a senator in student government and was president of the parks and recreation student organization.”
She then began working with the Indiana Park and Recreation Association. Her parents lived in Valparaiso, which is where she began her practical experience, required from ISU, with the Valparaiso Parks and Recreation Department.
“That is really were the seeds of me becoming a leader in my profession got started,” Kish said.
In addition, Kish previously was the recreation manager for Brownsburg Parks and Recreation Department and also a recreation program coordinator for Fishers Parks and Recreation Department.
During her tenure, she assumed small leadership roles with IPRA. She served as a chair for the new young professionals in IPRA for two years, and for another two years represented the central district for IPRA.
Kish is now president-elect of the IPRA. She also is part of the young professionals for the NRPA.
“I am truly honored and humbled to have received this recognition,” Kish said of the Young Professional Award from the NRPA.
“The ideal behind parks and recreation as a function of government is a deep-seeded passion that motivates me every day; public parks and recreational opportunities should be open and free to the community without exclusion,” Kish said.
Kish said her vision for Vigo County is park redevelopment. One example is upgrading Prairieton Park. Kish wants to move a greater share of annual park fee revenues back into county parks for park redevelopment.
“The West Terre Haute Parks — the South Seventh Street and Lee Fields Park — are basically going to get an overhaul over then next three to five years,” Kish said. “We are also looking at trail upgrades.”
Kish also would like to some day get a naturalist/historian position at a future Riley Lock Park, part of the former Wabash & Erie Canal. That position would have to be self-funded through fees, she said.
Vigo County Parks and Recreation has about a $1.1 million budget for the park system, with the majority of that, about $600,000, for salaries.
County parks, because of budget cuts, currently do not have lifeguards at lakes in Fowler and Hawthorn parks. The lakes are now swim-at-your-own-risk sites. Kish hopes to get lifeguard positions back in 2013, depending on funding.
Kish also points to Prairie Creek Park, which had its trails re-cut, with some leveled out, then covered with white rock. “I would like to see that on all foot trails systemwide,” Kish said.
Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.
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