The 50th Anniver
sary of the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) Annual Congress was held September 14-17, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Dr. Kaczynski and former BEACH Lab doctoral student, Gina Besenyi (now an Assistant Professor at Augusta University) presented an education session about the electronic Community Park Audit Tool (eCPAT). They were joined by long time research partner Sonja Wilhelm Stanis from the University of Missouri and current community partner Dana Souza from the City of Greenville. The session highlighted all the background work and research that has gone into developing and testing the eCPAT app and system and the exciting future directions for this line of research and community health promotion.
While in Las Vegas, we also enjoyed some time for fun and networking with colleagues, including the NRPA 50th anniversary party, a little blackjack and poker (we didn’t quite win enough to skip future grant proposals), and a Cirque de Soleil show (amazing!). Everyone who attended the eCPAT session left very excited and we’re confident that enthusiasm is building for the eventual release of eCPAT nationwide. In other words, in this case, we’re hoping that what happens in Vegas, does NOT stay in Vegas!