Greetings Fellow ITRS Members!

 We are surrounded by talented co-workers, caring individuals from our communities and generous local organizations.  Let’s recognize these individuals and organizations by completing the ITRS Awards nomination packet.  Awards will be given at the ITRS meeting during the IPRA/IAPD conference in January 2008.  Nominations are due to either Courtney Fejedelem or Kara Repsys at NISRA, 820 E Terra Cotta Ave, Ste. 125, Crystal Lake, IL  60014 by Friday November 16, 2007.  You can email the packets to either cfejedelem@nisra.org or krepsys@nisra.org.  If you have any questions our number at NISRA is (815) 459-0737.

awardsnominationform06.doc

student-award.doc

special-recognition-award.doc

professional-of-the-year.doc

excellence-in-service-award.doc

distinguished-service-award.doc

06-07-excellence-in-service-award-form.doc

agency-excellence-award.doc

The next ITRS meeting will be held on August 23 at NWSRA. We will start the meeting at 10:30 a.m. with a box lunch from Potbelly’s to follow. Anyone and everyone is invited to attend. Please fill out the attached flyer with your lunch selection by August 17th and fax to IPRA. Hope to see you there!

ITRS Lunch Meeting Flyer

The September Superintendent Survey will be e-mailed out today.  Superintendents (or Directors who do not have a Superintendent) please complete the survey by July 10 so that the results can be discussed at the July 12 meeting.

If you did not receive the survey, please contact Craig Culp so that a survey link can be sent to you.  Thank you for your participation.

Don’t forget to sign up for the ITRS Administrators Lunch and Golf Outing scheduled for July 12 at Arrowhead Golf Club in Wheaton.  Registration deadline is June 30 so act quickly.  Click here to register.
Please join your fellow Special Recreation and therapeutic recreation professionals for a spectacular day of golf, lunch and socializing. This event is hosted by the Participant Services Division of the ITRS. Online registration deadline is June 30. Please contact Jennifer Reyes regarding golf pairings if you have a predetermined group of individuals that would like to golf together.

9:30am SRA Directors & Superintendents Meeting 11:30am Lunch (Tuscan chicken with rice, garden salad & cheesecake) 12:30pm Golf

$25 per person - Lunch only $20 per person - Golf only $45 per person - Lunch and Golf

Arrowhead Golf Course is located one mile west of Naperville Road on the south side of Butterfield Road.

Just a reminder, early bird registration for the Day Camp Workshop is May 10, 2007!!

I just wanted to remind everyone to sign up for the ITRS Day Camp Workshop. The registration form in available online on the IPRA website!!! This is a great opportunity for your Summer Day Camp Staff!! If you have any questions please call me at 847-966-5522 or e-mail me at jritter@mnasr.org

Thanks everyone,

Jessie Ritter

I wanted to remind everyone that the ITRS Day Camp Workshop will be on May 30th form 5:00 - 9:00 PM. This is a great opportunity for your summer camp staff to learn skills that will benefit them at camp. This year we are covering topics such as Autism, lesson planning, pediatric first aid, assertiveness, and many more. Please look for more information on the IPRA event calender. If you have any questions about the workshop, please call Jessie Ritter at 847-966-5522.

At the ITRS Meeting today we discussed posting blogs and practicing the whole “blog thing.” As mentioned today, please look over the ITRS static pages. Let me know of any corrections that need to be made. Go to other IPRA section blog sites to help formulate ideas. Let Theresa Walker from SRACLC or me know of any ideas you have for our site.

I am practicing with pictures and downloading files. Once everyone is using this site we will be able post our agendas and minutes.

Meet Jasper, my therapy.

Welcome to the new home for IPRA’s Therapeutic Recreation Section professionals! As you’ll soon find out, this new blog (read: interactive Web site) will allow for so much more learning and interaction among members than the old static TR page.With this new site, you as the TR members, have the ability to become Contributors and post your own questions, news, learning experiences, meeting updates, workshop reminders, etc. You no longer have to wait for IPRA staff to update little nuggets of information - the power is in your hands!Once you’ve published a post others in the section have the ability to comment on them and provide feedback. This begins the interaction and learning. Think of this blog as the TR ListServ on steroids! Same great concept but now every post will be archived by category for later reference. You also don’t have to worry about email addresses - and bad emails too.

The success of the TR Section blog is really up to you, the member. If nothing ever gets posted and no one ever comments it’ll become a static page like the one you’re used to. Take control of your TR communications and get the word out.

To get started as a Contributor, simply click on the Login link at the top of the page…click on Register…enter a Username you’d like to use and you’re email address…and a password will be sent to you automatically. Now you can Login with your information and begin writing and publishing your thoughts. Easy huh?

We’re hear to help so let us know if you’re having any issues. Have fun!