2016-17

September 2016

Riley Kenney

Being an intramural official requires complete focus and confidence every single time you step onto the court or field. It also requires extreme patience as you aren’t officiating people you don’t know or people younger than you, you are officiating your peers.

Riley Kenney has worked for Campus Recreation as an intramural official for three years now. She exemplifies Campus Recreation’s motto of providing opportunities to thrive through innovative staff, facilities, and programming. Riley has been a key mentor for the program since she started the job. She works extremely hard to always be prompt, reliable, and knowledgeable. She is the official we ask to train new employees, and she is the employee we ask them to shadow. Whenever an accident happens on the field, Riley is the first one to put her first aid training to work and take care of participants. Riley continues every day to be the face of Campus Recreation through intramural sports, all while still obtaining her Master’s degree in Athletic Training. She is an incredible asset to intramural sports, and never fails to try her best every single time she represents Campus Rec.

Riley is calm, personable and dependable, three things we hope to have in all Campus Recreation employees. She has dedicated three years of her collegiate career to Campus Recreation and truly deserves to be student employee of the month. Her dedication to this institution is truly remarkable and deserves to be recognized.

November 2016

Torey LearnTorey Learn

Torey is studying to earn his bachelor's degree in music education as well as his music performance. He started working at the Grizzly Pool in Fall 2013 as a lifeguard. Shortly after, Torey started teaching swim lessons at the Grizzly Pool as well as lifeguarding. In 2014, he moved into the assistant head instructor position, and in 2015 he stepped into the head instructor position.

Torey has helped out with many aspects of the pool: Guarding, teaching lessons, helping with summer youth camps, hiring and training new staff, helping plan and run staff trainings, and being a resource for his coworkers at the Grizzly Pool as a head staff. His aspirations to become a teacher show in his ability to form a rapport with swim lesson students, their parents and patrons in general to the grizzly pool. He also is teaching an HHP activity class at the pool for intermediate and advanced swimmers.

While off the clock, Torey enjoys playing music, reading books, being outside with friends and gaming it up from time to time.  His goals after graduating are to find a high school band or choir teaching job in a place that also has a symphony orchestra that he could audition into and perform with on the side.

December 2016

Dani CrandellDani Crandell

Dani started working for Campus Rec facilities in Fall 2014. She excelled at her duties as a front desk, equipment desk and weight room and was promoted to a student supervisor a year later.  Dani is reliable and exhibits amazing attention to detail.  Her responsibilities include coordinating the facility staff work schedules, helping out with administrative tasks related to our locker service and managing payroll deduction memberships.   

Dani is quick to step up when coworkers need some time off and was instrumental in our ability to maintain our hours of operation over the winter break.  Her willingness to cover both supervisor and desk shifts allowed a lot of our student facility staff to travel home for the holidays. 

Dani is double-majoring in psychology and music and will be graduating in May.  She will be moving on to focus on her graduate studies in music therapy.

Thank you for all you do, Dani!

January 2017

Maddy KlapmeierMaddy Klapmeier

A senior at UM, Maddy is majoring in health and human performance and minoring in psychology.  Next fall she will be attending graduate school at Mt. Saint Mary’s in Billings for a Master of Occupational Therapy degree.  She has lived in Montana her whole life, so she loves camping, fishing and being near the water.  Her biggest passion is traveling anywhere and everywhere, and her favorite undergrad memory is studying abroad in Greece. 

Maddy has worn many hats at Campus Recreation.  She started as an intramural sports official, officiating nearly every sport.  Her natural leadership shown through as she mentored new officials.  This years she became our Intramural Student Manager.  Not only did she supervise the daily operation of all of our events, but she also helped out with the day-to-day management while we were in between intramural coordinators.  

Last year Maddy worked in the administration office assisting with operational activities and deposits for all of our Campus Recreation points of sale. In the summer of 2016 she also served as one of our dedicated counselors for Youth Camps.  In this position we saw a completely different side of Maddy.  She is a ball of energy with the children and loves helping even the most challenging camper thrive.  Several times during the camp season she had to problem-solve difficult situations and was able to come up with solutions on the fly.

An outstanding student employee, Maddy has the qualities we want in our employees in all of our program areas.  She’s willing to help out wherever needed while actively being involved in the development of her fellow employees.

February 2017

Taylor NeilsenTaylor Nielsen

Taylor processes the daily deposits for all the Fitness and Recreation Center points of sales as well as that of the Grizzly Pool.  This is a very detail-oriented and crucial task at Campus Recreation that requires a high level of integrity. She uses sound judgement and has proven herself to be capable and efficient.

Over the course of two years of completing daily deposits from five revenue centers and numerous account codes, Taylor’s close attention to detail has minimized the margin of error in our accounting and saved a lot of time.  We can rely on her to show up to work, problem-solve, ask for advice when it’s needed and get the job done.

During the vacancy of the assistant director of operations and marketing position, Taylor saw that some things were falling to the wayside and took the initiative to create flyers and post on social media.  Even now that the position has been filled, Taylor still lends a hand in that area.  She’s a self-starter who takes ownership of her work, and we deeply appreciate her strong work ethic and abundance of creativity. No matter what the task is, she’s quick to jump in and help.

In 2016, Taylor completed a certification program to become a Pink Gloves Boxing (PGB) trainer.  We were excited that she wanted to help lead the new program.  As a PGB trainer, she teaches Olympic-style boxing techniques while encouraging and empowering her fellow boxers and making sure they all get a good workout. 

Not only is Taylor a strong advocate for the benefits that exercise, but she also understands that empowering young women and helping them to make lasting connections increases the chances that they will stay in college and finish their degrees.  As a PGB trainer, therefore, she serves as an excellent role model for underclassman. 

A senior at UM, Taylor is double-majoring in psychology and anthropology.  We wish that she could stay with us longer because we have a lot of fun working with her, but we’re also proud that Taylor’s nearing the end of her college career. 

March 2017

Nico MatallanaNico Matallana

Nico is a senior graduating with degrees in ecological restoration, biology, resource conservation and environmental studies. Nico’s love for the natural world has brought him many places, including the University of Montana.

Nico has worked at the University of Montana Outdoor Program for three years. He started as a student in the intermediate climbing class and began working at the University climbing wall.  He's now  developed as one of the senior instructors and mentors here at the ODP. Nico is the lead intermediate climbing class instructor (the one he was a student in three years ago) for which students receive two University credits. It is one of, if not the most, technical course we offer. He also teaches backpacking, cross-country skiing and helps facilitate trainings on teaching people how to teach effectively in the outdoors.

Nico is a phenomenal instructor and worker. He has an impeccable ethic, one that anyone who works with him respects and admires. He is consistently taking initiative in making the Outdoor Program a more known entity on campus because he genuinely cares about and loves his work. He is passionate about protecting our public lands, goes above and beyond in all aspects of his life and is a delight to be around.

Nico’s parents took him backpacking for the first time when he was five years old. Ever since, the forest and mountains have been his respite.  At UM, Nico has studied the ecology of the landscape to know how to keep it healthy and strong for future generations. During a summer as a wilderness ranger, he enforced Leave-no-Trace etiquette and monitored human impacts on our local wildernesses. He has explored sustainable land use by working on a small-scale organic farm and promoting backyard gardening through the 1,000 New Gardens student group. After he graduates, he hopes to continue sharing the values of stewardship and conservation through a job in ecological restoration or environmental education.

We are lucky to have had Nico on our staff for three years and will miss him tremendously! We are confident that he will have lots of positive impacts on wilderness and others throughout his life.

April 2017

Nate NighNate Nigh

Nate joined the fitness staff in August 2016 and fully embraced his work from the start. Not only does Nate work with clients, but he also teaches several fitness classes.

Nate’s charisma draws eager participants to all of his classes. Nate strives to challenge class participants and exemplifies being an attentive, creative personal trainer. He meets clients of all ages and backgrounds where they’re at, but pushes each client to grow. His enthusiasm and optimism don’t go unnoticed!

While Nate is reliable and hardworking with his own classes and clients, he’s quick to step in when others need a hand. He has voluntarily worked extra shifts and substituted for classes on short notice. Nate’s selfless attitude and impeccable work ethic strengthen Campus Recreation’s fitness programs.

Backing Nate’s work is a personal philosophy and passion for functional movement. Prior to working for Campus Rec, Nate earned his bachelor’s degree in exercise science from UM in May 2016. He understands the benefits of being physically active and embodies this lifestyle.

Thank you, Nate, for your contagious smile and dedication to Campus Recreation!

June 2017

Dennis MitchamDennis Mitcham

Dennis is currently a junior in the health enhancement program at the University of Montana and a member of the Army Reserves. He was raised in Victor, Montana, and grew up playing most sports and enjoying the outdoors. He hopes to one day share his interests as a teacher and a coach. He enjoys playing basketball, fishing, camping and anything that involves the outdoors or sports. He sees Youth Camps as a great opportunity to learn and have fun!

Ready to tackle any challenge, Dennis is doing an awesome job as a counselor for Youth Camps this summer.  He has an outstanding presence with the campers, is prepared every day and is an excellent coworker. He is even writing curriculum and teaching his own short course on fly fishing to the kids. Dennis is the type of employee that makes our camps successful and fun!

July 2017

Emma Swartz

Emma Swartz

Emma Swartz will be attending UM this fall as a freshman. She grew up in Clinton, a small town just outside Missoula, with her parents, brother, two dogs and five horses. In high school she participated in choir, theater, lacrosse and took classes in the International Baccalaureate Program. She has enjoyed sharing her love for activities and the outdoors with the kids at Campus Recreation Youth Camps. She has stepped up this summer as a Youth Camps counselor and has even taught the campers Tae Kwon Do!

August 2017

Sawyer MeeganSawyer Meegan

Sawyer has worked at the Outdoor Program for one year. At the ODP, he can be found teaching a climbing class, leading a backpacking trip, in the winter leading cross-country ski excursions or working down at the climbing wall. He is an AMGA climbing wall instructor and is consistently working hard and saying “yes, how can I help?” He rolls with the punches, and this past summer worked a lot of climbing classes with Camps Recreation Youth Camps, plugged into the rafting program by getting trained to be a raft guide and ended up working several raft trips with us this summer. He also helped to organize all of the food for the Freshman Wilderness Experience (FWE) as well as lead a FWE group of students on a backpacking trip. Sawyer is a pleasure to have on our Outdoor Program/Campus Recreation team, and everyone enjoys working with him or learning from him as a participant. When he is not working at the ODP he can be found slack lining, playing Ultimate Frisbee, rock climbing, enjoying Montana’s rivers or or geeking on math problems.

Kenley CrispKenley Crisp

Kenley has only worked at the Outdoor program since October of 2016. He immediately jumped in with both feet and quickly wanted to take on the responsibility and role of the rentals shop student manager. He has done a good job managing his peers by scheduling and working an extremely busy rentals year. Additionally he took on the “gear coordinator” position with the Freshman Wilderness Experience and helped to organize, retrieve, and keep track of 13 groups' worth of gear going out into the field. Kenley is mellow and always one to say “yeah, I can do that…” When he is not working the rentals desk, he can be found working at the climbing wall, mountain biking or rock climbing with his friends.