CHARLES LYLE DAVIS
Lyle Davis graduated from Acadia with a Bachelor of Science (Recreation) in 1976 and a Master of Recreation in 1983. In 1984 he accepted the position as Assistant Director of Admissions at Acadia, a position he left in 1988 to become the Coordinator of Research and Development Services at the Recreation Resource Centre of Nova Scotia. He was an avid outdoor enthusiast and musician, and he pursued many other hobbies until his untimely death resulting from a climbing accident at Lake Louise in 1991. Lyle is survived by his wife Marla, an educator in the local area, as well as by 3 children; two of whom (Josh and Carah) were students in the School of Recreation Management & Kinesiology. Lyle was not only an alumnus of the Acadia Recreation program, he also occasionally taught courses for the School.
Lyle himself was an engaging individual who put great effort into both his work and his play. He practiced what we preach in this field with regards to active healthy balanced lifestyles. Many of the workshops he offered related to concepts that he believed in and lived…environmental education and stewardship, adventure programming, and community sustainability. He felt that life was an adventure to be lived and he did that fully each and every day of his all too short life, and inspired others to do so as well. He committed himself fully to the aspects of his life that were important to him: his family, his work, his friends, his community, and his leisure.
The concept, process, and practice of education was of paramount importance to Lyle. Whether pursuing education formally through his university degrees, instructing in the classroom himself, organizing workshops through the Resource Centre, reading great works, expressing his own ideas through writing, or informally sharing something of interest he had learned in any given day with anyone who cared to listen…he loved both learning, and teaching others. Part of his legacy is the Rec Check Manual, a state of the art marketing tool he developed out of his Masters work, which still occupies a coveted place on the bookshelves of many recreation practitioners, nearly a quarter of a century after its release.
One way that Lyle found to acquire and share knowledge was through his voluntary work on a variety of local, provincial, and regional associations. At the time of his passing, he was in Alberta planning to attend his first Canadian Parks and Recreation conference. He added a couple of days onto the front on his trip to explore the Rocky Mountains, an outdoor setting that he had not previously experienced. While hiking up some steep cliffs overlooking Lake Louise, he slipped and fell to his death.
Although he was well versed with academic literature and teachings, his objective was always to apply such knowledge to grass roots settings. He had a deep understanding of the concept and value of community, and contributed to the very the fabric of every community to which he belonged by giving freely of his personal assets and motivating/inspiring others to do so as well. It is therefore fitting that the award being named in his memory, be given to support the engagement of students in community-based initiatives where academic knowledge and skills are being applied to address real life issues in innovative and entrepreneurial ways.
Lyle himself was an engaging individual who put great effort into both his work and his play. He practiced what we preach in this field with regards to active healthy balanced lifestyles. Many of the workshops he offered related to concepts that he believed in and lived…environmental education and stewardship, adventure programming, and community sustainability. He felt that life was an adventure to be lived and he did that fully each and every day of his all too short life, and inspired others to do so as well. He committed himself fully to the aspects of his life that were important to him: his family, his work, his friends, his community, and his leisure.
The concept, process, and practice of education was of paramount importance to Lyle. Whether pursuing education formally through his university degrees, instructing in the classroom himself, organizing workshops through the Resource Centre, reading great works, expressing his own ideas through writing, or informally sharing something of interest he had learned in any given day with anyone who cared to listen…he loved both learning, and teaching others. Part of his legacy is the Rec Check Manual, a state of the art marketing tool he developed out of his Masters work, which still occupies a coveted place on the bookshelves of many recreation practitioners, nearly a quarter of a century after its release.
One way that Lyle found to acquire and share knowledge was through his voluntary work on a variety of local, provincial, and regional associations. At the time of his passing, he was in Alberta planning to attend his first Canadian Parks and Recreation conference. He added a couple of days onto the front on his trip to explore the Rocky Mountains, an outdoor setting that he had not previously experienced. While hiking up some steep cliffs overlooking Lake Louise, he slipped and fell to his death.
Although he was well versed with academic literature and teachings, his objective was always to apply such knowledge to grass roots settings. He had a deep understanding of the concept and value of community, and contributed to the very the fabric of every community to which he belonged by giving freely of his personal assets and motivating/inspiring others to do so as well. It is therefore fitting that the award being named in his memory, be given to support the engagement of students in community-based initiatives where academic knowledge and skills are being applied to address real life issues in innovative and entrepreneurial ways.
THE LYLE DAVIS COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT FUNDIn 2008, the Tides are Turning campaign was established to encourage Acadia faculty and staff to undertake activities to raise funds in support of student initiatives. His Recreation Management colleagues set up a fund and an award in Lyle’s memory. The Lyle Davis Community Engagement Fund was established to collect funds to be used in support of curricular community engagement initiatives of students in the Recreation Management program. In order to create the fund, a campaign was undertaken targeting program faculty, staff, students, and alumni. Once sufficient funds were generated ($10,000), the interest was made available annually in the form of an award to support one or more student community engagement initiatives. Funds were raised in a number of ways: grant from Nova Scotia Department of Health Promotion and Protection: Sport and Recreation Division, donations made by faculty and alumni, a workshop series featuring faculty presenters, auction by the students, and a coffee house launching the award.
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THE WORKSHOP SERIES
Acadia University Recreation Management faculty, coordinated by Brenda Robertson, donated their time and expertise to offer a series of seminars and workshops in support of the Lyle Davis Community Engagement Fund. The promotional description for each of the workshops is included below.
FACILITATING A SENSE OF WONDER... LEADERSHIP SKILLS IN ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
By Alan Warner and Janet Barlow
By Alan Warner and Janet Barlow
Helping young and older people to appreciate the natural world is a fundamental building block of environmental education. This is a day-long, experiential, outdoor leadership workshop for educators, recreation professionals, youth leaders, programmers, etc. in which you develop your educational skills to teach others about the natural world. We provide a conceptual orientation to quality environmental education and then spend the majority of the day experiencing, debriefing and discussing activities so as to identify effective educational practices and develop strategies and programming ideas relevant to your participants and organizations. Topics will include presentation of appreciation and concept activities, use of solitude, and how to design engaging programs. This workshop is co-sponsored by the Nova Scotia Outdoor Leadership Development Program and Sense of Wonder Environmental Education. Bring your own lunch, snacks provided.
ADVENTURE EDUCATION PROGRAM ACTIVITY RISK MANAGEMENT AND METHODS
By Scott Hennigar
By Scott Hennigar
This workshop will focus on the safe delivery (through risk management) of adventure programming activities including icebreakers, deinhibitors, low level co-operative games, level one initiative tasks and trust building activities. The participant will not only learn many activities but how to sequence activities, recognize and manage the risk the activities may present, and learn how to correctly use and make many of the props necessary for adventure programming activities. The workshop will be experiential so plan to be active!
BUILDING SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY: EXPLORING TOOLS AND CONCEPTS FOR TRANSITIONING TO SUSTAINABILITY By John Colton
The purpose of this workshop is to introduce participants to concepts and tools associated with building sustainable community. Sacred Place mapping, Place Making and Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) will be explored in addition to The Natural Step (TNS) a sustainability planning framework adopted by communities and organizations across Canada and the world. Participants will get hands-on experience in developing sustainable solutions for their communities and workplace.
RECREATION FUTURES IN THE ERA OF CLIMATE CHANGE By Glyn Bissix
Climate change is the greatest challenge of our time. It will, more than any other factor, determine our quality of life. Adapting to its impact will profoundly change Canadian lifestyles, what Canadians do in their leisure time and even whether they will have leisure time. Recreation managers can wait for these impacts to be forced upon us or can help provide for a smoother transition by anticipating evolving needs and planning for inevitabilities. Leadership will depend on our understanding of how our lives will be changed and what the likely impacts will be on individuals’, families’, communities’ and institutions’ leisure behaviour. No one, rich or poor, young or old is likely to be spared impact. In the morning this workshop will focus on how climate change will impact leisure pursuits and what changes will be necessary to meet international, national, provincial and local climate change mitigation obligations. This will be an interactive workshop. Participants will be invited to share their concerns and best practices as well as shape possible solutions.
THE NEW NATIONAL COACHING CERTIFICATION PROGRAM MODEL By Gary Ness
Confused about the new National Coaching Certification Program model and it’s potential to impact sport in communities throughout Nova Scotia? This three hour workshop will provide you with the answers you are seeking. The new NCCP model is made up of three streams and a total of eight contexts, each with its own coaching requirements. Each sport is responsible for identifying how many of the eight contexts are relevant to their sport. During the transition period to the new NCCP model, coaches are encouraged to find out which workshops are currently being offered in their community. A range of NCCP training opportunities are being offered across the country including multi-sport or sport-specific training as well as Theory courses and Technical courses. CAC is developing a tool to help coaches identify which coaching context is right for you and which workshops you need to be identified as “Trained” or “Certified” in your sport. Answer a few simple questions, and the tool will generate the coaching context that best suits your needs as a coach and the needs of your participants. It will also provide you with the list of all requirements to become a “Trained” or “Certified” coach in your sport.
THE LYLE DAVIS COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AWARD
The Lyle Davis Community Engagement Award was available to returning undergraduate students in the Recreation Management program to support curricular community engagement initiatives. Preference was given to students having demonstrated a prior commitment to community engagement, by making use of skills and knowledge acquired through the Recreation Management program. Financial need was a consideration. Annually, a selection committee was struck made up of two Recreation Management (or its successor) faculty (one of whom will serve as Chair), one student, and a member of the Davis family if they choose to participate. The Award was based upon the following guidelines:
1. Demonstrated financial need;
2. Evidence of prior commitment to community engagement;
3. a project that is realistic, well-articulated and benefits student learning;
4. The extent to which the students are able to make use of skills and knowledge acquired through the program to provide meaningful service to a community initiative;
5. Award recipient’s GPA will be a secondary consideration.
1. Demonstrated financial need;
2. Evidence of prior commitment to community engagement;
3. a project that is realistic, well-articulated and benefits student learning;
4. The extent to which the students are able to make use of skills and knowledge acquired through the program to provide meaningful service to a community initiative;
5. Award recipient’s GPA will be a secondary consideration.
THE LAUNCH
The award was officially launched at a coffee house on Thursday September 13, 2008. This type of event was chosen because Lyle loved such gatherings. The coffee house was held in the Michener Lounge in the Acadia SUB with Lyle’s family in attendance including his mom, wife Marla, his son Josh and daughter Carah (both students in the School of Recreation Management & Kinesiology at the time) and youngest son Noah. In addition, faculty, staff and current students attended, along with alumni and former colleagues. Lyle was an accomplished guitar player and song writer, and so a circle of his friends provided the musical background for the evening, joined at times by son Josh who takes after his father musically. It was an evening of song, stories, and some sorrow over a life well lived but far too brief in duration. Regardless, it was a wonderful coming together of the Acadia Recreation community, with excitement that Lyle’s legacy would continue on through the award.