BREC – a golden accomplishment
by Connor Raborn
The
Recreation
and
Park
Commission for East Baton Rouge,
more commonly known as BREC,
has received an opportunity to add
another feather to its increasingly
crowded cap.
BREC, home to more than 180
parks, including seven golf courses,
has been named a finalist in the 2016
National Gold Medal Awards for
Excellence in Park and Recreation
Management. The East Baton Rouge
park system has won the Gold Medal
Award twice and has now ranked as a
finalist 13 times.
“It’s the most prestigious honor that
a park system can get,” said Cheryl
Michelet, director of communication
at BREC. The National Recreation
and Park Association (NRPA) partners
with the American Academy for
Park and Recreation Administration
(AAPRA) to select the finalists and
winners for the Gold Medal Awards.
BREC competes in the largest
category, Class 1, comprised of park
systems that serve over 400,000
people.
The NRPA requires park systems
to be members of their association
to qualify for the award. There are
currently more than 10,000 such
agencies holding a membership.
According to Michelet, the award
application process itself is also quite
lengthy.
“They’re looking for numbers. They
want to see that you’re measuring,”
said Michelet. The application
inventories the park system, looking
at acreage and the numbers and
types of facilities. Some of the major
considerations for the award involve
the progress the park system makes in
its community, not just maintenance
of its offerings.
“They want to see innovation; they
want to see outcomes,” said Michelet.
One way in which the agency has
striven to do this is through its golf
courses. Michelet said that BREC
wants to make golf accessible so
that more people can play. The park
system offers public courses, which
are cheaper to encourage nonprofessionals to practice on them.
“We’re a starter area for a lot of
people,” she added.
“We’re trying to move BREC
golf into the 21st Century,” said
Michael Raby, director of golf at
BREC. “We’re trying to quickly
upgrade our technology.” According
to Raby, implementation of these
improvements in making a more
complete golf program is his
department’s contribution to the
consideration in the Gold Medal
Awards. He listed updating the
department’s website and booking