Detrick Stanford, chief operating officer for Clayton County government, has been elected to the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration. Stanford will be inducted at the Academy’s annual meeting this month during the National Recreation and Park Association Conference in New Orleans.
Stanford will be expected to help advance parks and recreation as a field dedicated to improving the lives of people from all walks of life, and he looks forward to working through the Academy on mentoring, the Gold Medal Award program, and urban directors to achieve that end. Stanford said the Academy represents a body of individuals that set the foundation and legacy for the field of parks and recreation in the past and in the future.
“I’ve worked in the Parks and Recreation space for 18 years and the most rewarding part was the growth I saw in people and the communities we’ve served as a result of the programming we created through Park services,” Stanford said. “To have your peers in the field acknowledge your contribution through service to a profession you love is priceless,” he continued. “To be inducted into the Academy, where many of your mentors advanced to, is humbling and equally rewarding.” Stanford concluded.
The academy is a group of practitioners and educators who are leaders in the field of parks and recreation. In order to be considered, for inclusion, inductees must satisfy certain criteria. They must have served for at least 15 years in a high level of administration and they must have managed a park and recreation department for an agency with a population of more than 500,000 people.
They also must demonstrate outstanding ability in administration, management or education in the profession; display broad interest with a direct service benefit to the advancement of public parks and recreation; and assume leadership with a keen desire to contribute to the advancement of the field. The academy is limited to 125 active members.
Information: www.aapra.org.
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