Staff Profile: Terri Kerwawich
Terri Kerwawich is a program director at Parks & Rec. In this position, Terri oversees:
Programming for older adults
Outdoor Experience program
Terri’s career with Parks & Rec started in 1976, when she gave out summer lunches as a Philadelphia Youth Network (PYN) employee. Now, as a program director, her job has come full-circle, as she oversees Playstreets, a summer program that gives kids a safe place to play as well as daily lunches or snacks.
In her 42 years with Parks & Rec, Terri has worked at various recreation centers, moved around to several districts, and overcome many professional challenges. Recently, we asked her to reflect on her work and experiences.
On her favorite part of the job
In both her current position and past work, Terri has loved working with children. Most meaningful to her is:
Seeing young students grow, mature, and gain self confidence during their time in the WorkReady program
Making sure kids have access to healthy meals through the food program
Watching kids at recreation centers start coming as young children,seeing them grow up, and providing them a safe, fun place to hang out.
On female leadership in the department
For Terri, there were a few female gurus in her own career:
One female rec leader in a sea of male leaders when she was growing up had a big influence, leading sports Terri played and helping her get her first summer job.
After Terri got her first permanent job, she had a female supervisor who encouraged her toplan ahead and helped set up a proper retirement plan.
Delores M. Andy, Philadelphia's first female Department of Recreation commissioner, stuck up for Terri when she faced backlash in a community after getting promoted.
Continuing the tradition, Terri has tried to act as a mentor to female PPR employees who may have questions or need to bounce ideas off someone.
Additionally,Terri guided girls at her facilities to get involved with sports and other activities. Terri shared, “With young girls, if you can keep them in activities (not just hanging out), you can keep them on the right path.”
Favorite memories with Parks & Rec: as both a kid and an employee
A natural athlete, Terri participated in lots of Parks & Rec programming as a youth, specifically at Vare Recreation Center. A story she is happy to share is that she competed in a 1979 Pepsi Hot Shot Basketball competition at a recreation center… and was a national champ!
As far as her biggest accomplishments as an employee, she is particularly proud of last year’s WorkReady program. The summer project for youth workers was a fundraiser for a charity of their choosing. A huge success, the program raised over $23,000 in six weeks, and gave teens the opportunity to do good work in their communities, learn project management skills, and be creative.
In addition, her past work as a rec leader will always be memorable. She loved to show kids new experiences or skills, saying that “as a rec leader, the possibilities are endless if you want to try new things— arts, certain sports. You get to have fun with the kids while teaching them. I personally started the sport stacking program and got to take kids out to Colorado for the National Sport Stacking Championship in 2007.”
Terri has committed her career to Parks & Rec and truly believes in the power of local recreation centers and their effects on communities.
