May 24, 2021
Congratulations to the 2021 senior class!
We applaud all of our 2021 graduates and couldn’t be more happy for you! As a small measure of gratitude, we wanted to take a moment to thank those senior student employees who have helped UW Recreation to reopen and thrive in the last several months.
Read on for a virtual yearbook celebrating this year’s awesome and valued Rec seniors!
FITNESS
Kendrick Lu is our first student personal trainer! Kendrick is professional, kind, and hard working.
Lexi Rohrer has done an incredible job transitioning from our Fitness Instructor Training program to becoming one of our premier instructors. We will miss her! Thank you for also helping the operations team open back up the IMA!
Sophie Werner is a true team player! Not only has she helped me [Rec fitness manager Jeff Palmer] greatly as a fitness lead, but she also assisted me with FIT and assisted the facility as a whole. Sophie has had a great attitude and positive influence working in operations.
“A huge thank you to all UW Recreation graduating seniors! Your patience and hark work has been amazing over the last year and we truly appreciate your contributions in helping us provide wellness opportunities in these challenging times.
The reopening of the IMA, Golf Range, and Waterfront Activities Center could not have been accomplished without our amazing students! Good luck to all of you.”
– Facilities and Operations staff member
OPERATIONS
Jason Creighton (Operations & Intramurals) is a leader on the Operations team and a natural at hosting Intramural trivia! Jason has been with us for four years (!) and is a true customer service all star! Within Intramurals, Jason’s creativity and initiative blossomed through hosting weekly trivia night for everyone to enjoy. Thank you for creating a welcoming and fun event.
Willy Ha has a positive attitude and a great work ethic. He is always willing to help out his coworkers and provide excellent customer service!
Mariana Madera (Operations & Golf Range) has been a welcome addition to the Operations Team. She has been very helpful in our locker room clean out project as well as a star at the Golf Range.
Laura Valle has been a constant help with our locker room project and always has a positive attitude!
CRAGS CLIMBING CENTER
Ari Asarch has been incredibly communicative throughout the past year, and came back to the Head Route Setter position with positive energy and a willingness to improve the gym!
Izzy Eelnurme was willing to come back to Crags with short notice and has been incredibly willing to help out while still getting in a truly impressive ski season and a Northwest Avalanche Center Fellowship!
Owen Kovarik jumped back to Crags with enthusiasm even if things didn’t go quite as fast as his UW Formula Motorsports team!
Katie Layton has been working to finish off the Crags week and go the extra mile with all of the new sanitization protocols!
Jared Nakata has jumped back on to the team and will be teaching the majority of the Basic Climbing courses!
Reily Savenetti has come back to Crags with a willingness to instruct classes and make her Mondays as busy as ever!
“Our student employees have been the only reason we have been able to be open and functioning through parts of the pandemic. From their constant need to be flexible as we switch from phase to phase and adjust hours, to their determination to hold their peers accountable to safety guidelines, our students have done all of this while fielding many frustrations.
We owe them so much to keeping our department open to patrons and I hope we can highlight that. I can’t think of a single student employee on our team [senior or not] that doesn’t deserve to be on this shout out. I am so grateful and proud of them as a whole.” – Facilities and Operations staff member
INTRAMURALS
Sam Akomea* enlightens your day with his joyful and positive attitude. Thank you for always being a team player and for supporting your co-workers when in need.
Bryn Langrock is always ready to take on any challenge headed her way. Thank you for your patience and adaptability.
Jack Liedtke* continuously puts his best foot forward every day at work. Thank you for begin a dedicated and hardworking employee.
Maggie Ruden took on a lot this year and jumped in with two feet. Thank you for your dedication to learning new things and your ability to tackle new challenges.
Kara St. John’s* positive attitude and attention to detail are two attributes I [Intramurals manager Sam Rodenberg] appreciate about her. Thanks for being a great co-worker and for sharing new ideas to better our program.
*Not seniors, but we would like to thank them anyway for their awesome contributions this past year!
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS & ASUW SHELL HOUSE CAPITAL CAMPAIGN
Cameron Wong has been working with UW Recreation since he began his studies at the UW! On the marketing side, Cameron has a great sense of design, he’s efficient and puts a lot of attention and detail into his work, and he is pleasure to work with. Regarding his work on the campaign, he is invaluable to the success and forward momentum of it, and his kindness, positivity, professionalism, and engaging personality make him a proud representative of our university.
Once again, thank you to all of our student employees, and well-wishes to every graduate! We appreciate you.
It’s possible due to our current operations that we may not have realized that some student staff are graduating! If we’ve missed you, it was not intentional. Please reach out to Marketing and Communications manager Robin Brooks at rebrooks[at]uw[dot]edu if this is the case and we will remedy the situation!
Some quotes in this piece have been lightly edited.
