FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK
Isabel Kellerman, M.S.Ed., CTRS

Think Spring, Think Saratoga!

Wow, do you believe in déjà vu? Here I am coming to the end of my term as NYSTRA President-again. Seems I’ve done this be-fore! I’ll save my big thank yous till after the conference. Right now I just want to thank Joanne Auerbach and Lorrie Prescott for NYSTRA’s leadership of the Downstate Conference. They did an outstanding job!

Thank you to MaryBeth and Loretta for the countless hours spent in putting our upcoming 15th Annual Conference together. Jug-gling work, family and NYSTRA is quite an achievement!

I just want to repeat what I’ve said before. There is so much we can accomplish, but it takes all of us. What is it that Hillary Clinton said, “It takes a village”, well it takes our village, the TR village and working together we can do it. The title for this year’s confer-ence is “Honoring our Past, Building our Future”. We have a strong foundation to build upon and the future belongs to all of us. Take a look at the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition under Recreational Therapists. Employment as an RT is projected to grow faster than the average. Applicants will face competition for jobs. Four states now have licensure and we will be next!
Think spring, think Saratoga! I look forward to seeing all of you March 20-23rd at our 15th Annual Conference. It is not only a celebration of 15 years of our annual confer-ence, it is a celebration of all of us-TR, RT, licensure, you, me, my residents, your cli-ents, everyone. Hope you’ll be there.
Have you looked at the RT videos on YouTube? They are amazing. In particular take a look at “I’m Going to Major in Recreational Therapy”. It’s a college student’s discovery of TR. I thought it was funny, touching and so true. I look forward to hearing from you with your thoughts and comments. Isabelkel@aol.com or (718)298-7840.

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