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Cathy Cook, B.S. 1980, and Cindy (Robb) Samples, B.S. 1979, with their 2009 Beacon Awards. The American Recreation Coalition's Beacon Awards "recognize outstanding efforts by federal agencies and partners in harnessing the power of technology to improve public recreation experiences and federal recreation program management." The two former WIU classmates and Sigma Kappa sorority sisters attended the award ceremony in Washington, D.C., in June.
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Serendipitous Summer: Western Alums/Sorority Sisters Meet for Nat'l Rec Award Ceremony in D.C.

August 6, 2009

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MACOMB, IL - - Making memories is a rite of the summertime season. Many times the best ones are serendipitously significant, giving us the gift of an unexpected memento that we will recall with a smile as the season ends and for years to come.

Cindy (Robb) Samples and Cathy Cook, who both earned bachelor's degrees from Western Illinois University's recreation and park administration (now called the recreation, park and tourism administration, or RPTA) department (Samples in 1979 and Cook in 1980), are looking back at this summer season fondly, but not necessarily because the WIU grads were recognized with Beacon Awards in June from the American Recreation Coalition (ARC). In addition to the awards and recognition Samples and Cook received for their individual professional contributions to this country's natural resources, their memento from this summer includes the memory of a happy and unexpected reunion with one another, former classmates and Sigma Kappa sorority sisters, at a rooftop award ceremony at the U.S. Department of the Interior building in Washington, D.C.

Tech and Rec: An Award-Winning Combo
"As part of the American Recreation Coalition's award presentation, the winners had to set up displays showing their award-winning projects," explained Samples. "So I'm setting up my display, and all of a sudden someone is hugging me. I look up and it's Cathy, and I said, 'Oh my Gosh!' It was just wonderful. Then we both looked at each other and said, 'Hey, not too bad for a couple of Western Illinois University grads,'" the Macomb (IL) native added.

Cook agreed that it was great to see her former classmate, sorority sister and now natural resource colleague; both have worked for natural resource-related agencies in the federal government for close to 30 years. After a stint with the Army Corps of Engineers, Samples now serves as the visitor service manager for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service at Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife & Fish Refuge in Winona, MN. Cook is the chief of interpretation for the National Park Service's Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina.

Although their job titles and places of work may not be thought of as typically technology related, both Samples' and Cook's Beacon Awards spotlight how they creatively embraced modern-day communication tools to enhance the outdoor experience. (ARC's Beacon Awards "recognize outstanding efforts by federal agencies and partners in harnessing the power of technology to improve public recreation experiences and federal recreation program management.")

"These days, we seem to live in more of an indoor society than an outdoor one. That's why my job is so critical -- to get people outside," Samples noted. "The future of conservation depends on conservationists, and if we don't have kids and adults connecting to natural resources on the land, well, that's not a good future scenario for protecting places like national wildlife refuges and parks. While people can learn about it through computers, it's important to experience our nation's natural resources in person as well."

According to ARC, Samples earned the Beacon Award "for her demonstration of use of new technology in creative ways to facilitate visitor enjoyment within the 261-mile long refuge, including cell phone tours, mystery geocaching and podcasts to help refuge visitors find, discover and understand the refuge. Especially exciting is her use of geocaching as a tool to reach new audiences and to use 'travel bugs' to encourage visitation of many sites on this and other refuges. Her efforts provide information to actual and potential visitors -- and even with those who may never have the opportunity to visit the highlighted sites. Cindy's efforts included forging a partnership with the Geological Society of America replicable across the nation."

Cook's contributions to the National Park Service's website to help celebrate the department's 75th anniversary garnered her and her team a Beacon Award too. According to ARC, the NPS's "National Parks: The Place to be for Family Fun" website, "was developed specifically to provide a thematic and interactive approach to helping Americans identify and utilize the many ranger-led programs, activities and commercial visitor services available to them in the national parks and has been promoted actively using both new and traditional media channels."

Lifelong Legacies
Samples and Cook can both recall career-boosting opportunities that Western provided for them as students in the recreation, park and tourism administration field; Cook noted that her participation in the department's ECO Education Expedition program, "a semester-long experience conducted in national parks, outdoor education centers and wilderness areas," was particularly memorable and beneficial for her.

"The exposure to recreation programs, land management agencies and the leadership skills I gained during ECO will stay with me for a lifetime," Cook said. "The required practicum also lead to my long-term career with the National Park Service."

Samples remembers the summer of 1978 being especially formative for her; that year, along with Cook and her husband, Rick Samples (who also graduated from Western in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in recreation and park administration), Samples served as a counselor in the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC), a camp that WIU sponsored at the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois.

"Back then, the department was small, but I didn't meet Rick until we worked at this YCC camp. Western had contracted with the Forest Service to run the YCC camp that year, so all of us working at that camp were from Western Illinois University," Samples explained.

Her time at the YCC camp was not the only camping memory Samples treasures from her time as a Western student. She attributes much of her success today to her studies at WIU and to the faculty in the department -- with one faculty member in particular whom she recalls as part of her many camping and experiential memories made while a student.

"We always went on field trips. I remember going caving, camping and even winter camping with Doc Lupton -- all of those experiences resonate in my mind," Samples noted.

"Doc" Lupton, or Frank Lupton (who chaired the recreation and park administration department from 1980-1986 and was bestowed with WIU's Faculty Lecturer Award in 1976), is that faculty member who Samples calls "her mentor." She added that his influence still inspires and motivates her today.

"I remember and often use this quote from him -- I don't know where the quote comes from -- but whenever we would go camping and participate in an event that required us to sleep out somewhere, every morning he'd wake up and say, 'The sun is shining, the birds are singing, it's a great day to be alive!' It could be 20 degrees, we could be freezing and no birds would be singing, but he would always do that. He just had this positive attitude about how the day was going to be," Samples said. "Doc Lupton and my time at WIU helped make me into what I really wanted to be, what I am today -- a teacher in the outdoors. If I hadn't gone to WIU and connected with him, I don't know if I would have had this great career, so I'm thankful."

For more information about the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife & Fish Refuge, visit fws.gov/midwest/UpperMississippiRiver. Learn more about geocaching at geocaching.com. Visit the National Park Service's website at www.nps.gov. Read about the American Recreation Coalition's other 2009 Beacon Award winners at www.funoutdoors.com/node/view/2340.

For more information, contact Samples at (507) 494-6216.

Posted By: Teresa Koltzenburg (WIUNews@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing