2018-19

September 2018

Zac FaulknerZac Faulkner

As a computer science master’s student, Zac is a very technical person. When asked how something works, he will give you a very thorough, technical answer. This is very handy when dealing with climbing gear and mountain bikes and just one of many reasons it has been great having Zac as a part of the Outdoor Program (ODP) team.

Not only is he knowledgeable, but we can rely on him to chip in whenever he’s needed. He is someone who constantly says “yes” when asked to fill a shift, teach a class or fix something. When Zac says yes to something, you know you can count on him.

At the ODP we also appreciate how engaged Zac is. He took the fundamentals of climbing class, the intermediate climbing class, went on to take his AMGA Climbing Wall Instructors course through the Outdoor Program and now teaches climbing classes at the ODP.

Last summer he worked rentals full-time and started to learn to raft guide. He spend many of his days on the Alberton Gorge and the Blackfoot rivers learning the ways of whitewater. Zac loves to learn new skills and then to help others learn them as well.

October 2018

Riley Butler and Shane Randle

Both of our October Employees of the Month hail from Seattle, Washington, and are graduating in December. We will miss both of them very much in the spring!

Riley ButlerRiley is a hard worker and takes what she does seriously. Carefully taking the time to create lesson plans, she coordinates with her co-instructors and tailors her lessons to her students. She is a role model for men and women alike and has influenced many students while at UM. She is organized and passionate about what she teaches. It is hard to believe that she is already graduating.

Riley took the intermediate climbing class the spring of 2016 and also took the AMGA Climbing Wall Instructor Course in February of 2016, and from there was hooked on rock climbing. She is passionate about educating the next generation to be conservationists, outdoor enthusiasts and climbers.

In her time at the ODP, Riley has worked backpacking trips, instructed two Freshman Wilderness Experience backpack trips, taught rock climbing classes, lead day and overnight cross-country ski trips, worked women’s nights and at the climbing wall and worked in the rentals shop.

Riley is completing her bachelor’s degree in resource conservation with a focus in climate change. Riley has been working at the Outdoor Program since August of 2016.

Shane RandleShane is a competent and knowledgeable instructor, very organized and “on it.” When she commits to doing something, you know that she will produce high-quality results every time. Her students and co-instructors have learned a great deal working with Shane. We have been delighted to have her as part of the ODP team and are sad it was for such a short time.

Shane grew up in Seattle backpacking, skiing and biking in the nearby Cascade Mountains.  She started out college in the onion and wheat fields of Walla Walla, Washington at Whitman College, and made the move to Missoula to finish her degree in environmental studies at UM in 2017. 

Shane took the AMGA Climbing Wall Instructor course in November of 2017 and started working at the ODP that spring. While at the ODP, Shane has jumped in with both feet. Because of her experience working at Whitman College, coupled with her own personal outdoor experience, she was an easy fit. She has taught beginner and indoor rock climbing classes for credit, lead backpacking trips in Glacier National Park and for the Freshman Wilderness Experience, helped lead Youth Camps climbing days and raft trips in the summer, lead a Whitefish Bike Retreat bike trip, worked at the climbing wall and helped facilitate Women’s Nights at the Wall.

November 2018

Kaitlynn KokeKaitlynn Koke

Kaitlynn became part of the Campus Rec Youth Camps family in the summer of 2016 as a counselor.  We quickly learned not only does she have a love for children, but she also takes great care in the preparation each day to tailor camp curriculum to each group of children. 

Within her first season as a counselor she showed her ability to lead by example and step up and take extra duties as needed. This all led to her becoming a lead counselor in the summer of 2017.  As a lead counselor, she was able to first and most importantly mentor the counselors she supervised all while working with them shoulder to shoulder.  Making her vital to the success of the 2017 camp season.

Kaitlynn needed an internship to complete here requirements for her degree in community health.  We were lucky she approached us to see if we had anything she could work on as an intern.  This fall Kaitlynn took on the task of developing our new junior high residential camp. 

Kaitlynn more than surpassed our expectations in her role as an intern.  She worked independently and efficiently to create, design, plan and coordinate the residential camp.  She was given a general idea as to what the camp should be like, the overall purpose, basic guidelines, and off she went.  She has carefully planned out all aspects of the camp, and we are now ready to launch it.  Without her dedication, strong work ethic, and genuine care this camp would still be a thought, but she truly has made it a reality.  A camp like this will not be a success overnight. It may even take a few years to see the impact it will have on our community, but Campus Recreation will always have Kaitlynn to thank for breathing life to it.

Kaitlynn graduated in December 2018 with her Bachelor of Science in community health. She will continue working for Youth Camps as a temporary staff member and  watch her "baby" develop and surpass her own expectations. 

December 2018

Lacy FioreLacy Fiore

Lacy joined the fitness team in the 2017 and quickly proved she was an integral part of Campus Recreation Fitness Programs. Lacy started out teaching POUND, a fast-paced fitness class and later joined the personal training team.

She has developed her own compassionate, patient, fun style of training over the past year and a half. Lacy’s favorite part of training is when her clients notice a difference in themselves. She says, “It’s exciting when people can connect what we do in sessions or in class with their real lives— connecting exercises with everyday movements.”

When she’s not busy working, you can find her participating a fitness class, hopping in the pool or out for a hike! Thanks, Lacy, for the awesome energy you bring to Campus Recreation!

January 2019

Jenna TomielloJenna Tomiello

Jenna started teaching spin in 2011. Indoor cycling is a fun way for her and everyone in her classes to keep up endurance and speed during the off-season. In 2012, she also began to teach Pilates.

At Campus Recreation, Jenna teaches back-to-back Cycling & Core and Pilates reformer classes. We appreciate Jenna's expertise and passion for fitness and recreational sports. She is a phenomenal group fitness instructor.

Core strength is an integral part of any fitness routine and even just daily life, and Jenna likes helping people find their strength so they can keep doing the things they love.  "I know if I didn't have Pilates in my life, I wouldn't be as strong of a cyclist, runner or skier," she said.

February 2019

Harrison SchuttHarrison Schutt

A student in the environmental studies program, Harrison has worked at the Outdoor Program for three years. He took  Intermediate Rock Climbing his freshman year and was hooked.

After his first year here, Harrison began climbing as much as he possibly could and took the American Mountain Guides Association Climbing Wall Instructor Course (AMGA CWI) here at UM and the AMGA Single Pitch Instructor (AMGA SPI) course in Red Rocks, Nevada. He is the only employee at the Outdoor Program who has the SPI certification, and we are proud of him!

Harrison has been a great asset to the Outdoor Program staff ever since he joined the ODP in December of 2017. He has worked at the climbing wall and the rentals department, and he was a primary leader on the Freshman Wilderness Experience as well as being a student on FWE his freshman year. He has taught several intro to climbing classes and has taught the two-credit Intermediate Rock Climbing twice.

Harrison takes what he does seriously and has prioritized his professional development and is consistently open to learning all he can. He is always early, organized and prepared and gets out there and puts what he has learned into practice. Since being here, he has grown and developed into a solid leader, and it is a pleasure working with him. Harrison makes sure he stays current with industry standards, so what he adds to his classes are fresh and relevant practices. When he is in charge of a class, he is organized and meticulous in its execution while making sure it is fun and entertaining.  His laid-back and humble demeanor puts people at ease, and his students love learning from him. His students and his coworkers connect with him easily and enjoy learning from and working with him.

March 2019

Ellie JonesEllie Jones

Ellie began working in the important role of operations assistant in the Campus Recreation administration office at the beginning of the 2018 fall semester. Along with other tasks that ensure office operations run smoothly, Ellie processes daily deposits for four of Campus Rec’s points of sale.

In her junior year here at the University of Montana, Ellie is majoring in human biology and minoring in psychology. Despite her busy class schedule, we can rely on Ellie to be here every weekday ready to hit the ground running. Whenever she finishes early, Ellie moves right to tackling other projects without prompting.

Organized and methodical, Ellie takes care with tasks large and small. She always remembers when it’s time to take inventories, writes clear and concise notes, follows up on issues until they are resolved and sees projects through to completion. She is accurate and so efficient that she often asks for more job responsibilities.

Ellie is also proactive, catching anomalies in the deposits and working collaboratively with assistant director of marketing and operations, Campus Rec’s business manager and program area managers to investigate them.

When she’s not studying or working, Ellie spends much of her time baking and visiting her boyfriend in Darby, Montana. An avid outdoorswoman, she also enjoys archery and fishing.

We admire Ellie’s adventurous spirit and love of recreation. In 2017, Ellie went on the Outdoor Program’s Mountaineering & Trekking in Peru trip and later returned to South America with her family to show them around.

April 2019

Kaitlynn KokeKaitlynn Koke

Kaitlynn started working for Campus Recreation as a Youth Camps counselor as a student employee. After one season she was promoted to lead counselor. She was tremendous in both of these roles.

More recently Kaitlynn became a Youth Camps intern during Fall 2018.  For her internship she worked independently on the task of designing, creating and planning nearly every aspect of our new residential middle school camps.  Far exceeding expectations in this role, she showed abilities and skills of a seasoned recreation program manager. We do not typically hire temporary employees in a role like this, but because of her outstanding accomplishment in creating this camp she was asked to stay on as assistant director of this camp.

Kaitlynn is an excellent employee who works well both on her own and as a team member.  She takes initiative and does top-notch work with little guidance.  Plus, she is personable and fun to have around. Without a doubt, Kaitlynn has made the director of camps job much easier over the last eight months.  She won Employee of the Month for the second time this year because of her outstanding work on the residential camps project.

May 2019

Stephen MaciagStephen Maciag

Stephen joined the facilities team here at Campus Recreation in the Fall of 2017.  He’s proven to be a notable asset to our staff with his hard work, intrinsic motivation and outstanding people skills.  Most recently, Stephen has been a major contributor in a spring cleaning initiative of the Fitness and Recreation Center.  In addition to working at the Fitness and Recreation Center, Stephen also works on the grounds crew at the University of Montana Golf Couse.

June 2019

Kelsie TaylorKelsie Taylor

Kelsie began working with the Campus Rec facilities staff in the fall of 2018. She quickly demonstrated her excellent work ethic and leadership potential and was promoted to student supervisor by the end of the semester.  

Kelsie has a great operational knowledge of the Fitness and Recreation Center and is always willing to go above and beyond. We appreciate her professionalism and attention to detail as a supervisor and are grateful for her willingness to help us with tasks outside of her scheduled shifts.  She was integral to the success of our recent spring cleaning projects and has been a huge help with facilitating sports camp rentals outside of our regular business hours.

Kelsie is heading into her third and final year at UM in the Doctorate of Physical Therapy program. This past year she had the opportunity to serve as the president of the UM Physical Therapy Student Association, which brought about many amazing volunteer opportunities and helped her grow as a human and future physical therapist.

Before UM, Kelsie completed her undergrad in kinesiology, with a psychology minor, at Washington State University, where she also competed in track and field.

In her current (minimal) free time, Kelsie enjoys fishing and volunteering with Camp Bullwheel, an adaptive fishing camp for people with disabilities. She also plays intramural sports, trapshoots, builds things with wood and travels back to her home state of Washington to visit her boyfriend, puppy, family and new baby niece.

July and August

These three ladies have given their heart and souls to Youth Camps over the last three years. All of them started as camp counselors in 2017 and were all clear selections to be lead counselors for the 2019 camp season. The key roles of a lead counselors requires them to mentor their peers, lead camp games and curriculum, respond to camper behavior issues and communicate with parents.

Of course, a lead is not limited to these roles. They do so much on a day-to-day basis that it is difficult to put it into words. These women far exceeded our expectations in fulfilling this role. They had the ability to take charge when needed, step back and let counselors shine, mentor and help counselors grow and lift children up all while holding the staff and campers they mentor accountable.

Campus Recreation Youth Camps are more successful because of them. They all care so much about the children and success of the program that they constantly give the director feedback on ways to change and tweak aspect to improve week to week and year to year.  They have made a lasting impression on every staff member and child with whom they have worked. 

Claire Malany

Claire is a recent graduate from the University of Montana, with her degrees in communicative sciences and disorders and psychology. She will be pursuing her master's degree in speech-language pathology at the University of Oregon this coming fall. She is from Montana and has spent most of her childhood hiking with her parents. Growing up she played a large variety of sports, including soccer, volleyball, tennis and basketball. Throughout college, she has been a Flagship volunteer at Franklin Elementary School, where she taught classes on tennis, dinosaurs and space. This will be her third summer in Missoula, and she is looking forward to helping the kids grow and to learn to love being active.

Maddie Foulk

Maddie graduated with a bachelor's of science in exercise science, with a minor in psychology. Her future goal includes becoming a physical therapist and specializing in pediatrics. She was very involved on campus as a member of the UM Advocates, volunteer at PT clinics, and javelin-thrower for Griz Track and Field. She loves spending time with her friends doing things outside such as hiking, floating the river and going to concerts and to the farmers' markets. This will be her third year as a camp counselor. She is very excited to spend time with both new and old campers from last year, continue to build relationships with her fellow counselors and directors, and inspire campers to stay true to themselves and be passionate about what they enjoy.

Kelsi Wilson

Kelsi just finished her degree in elementary education at the U of M and will begin her teaching career this fall. She was born and raised in the Bitterroot Valley, where she developed a love for exploring the mountains. Hiking, kayaking and reading in the sun are a few of her favorite activities. Kelsi grew up playing softball and volleyball. She has coached gymnastics and taught children’s creative dance classes. During the school year she works for Campfire USA. She believes in exposing kids to as many activities as possible so that they can choose what to fall in love with. This will be her third year as a counselor for campus Rec Youth camps.