There’s no place like Rec Sports
Katelyn Rodriguez ‘24 remarks on her work experience within Facilities & Operations
For the tens of thousands of students who each year comprise Texas A&M University, Rec Sports is just a frequent stop, a place to tend to work out and destress while pursuing a degree. But for Katelyn Rodriguez, Rec Sports is something more: it’s a job, a classroom, a social spot where her closest friends can be found, and in her own words, it’s home.
Since her freshman year, Rodriguez has worked within the Facilities & Operations team; she’s prepared facilities for events, helped countless patrons with their lockers, mentored junior staff in Rec Sports’ standard procedures, and on countless occasions answered her favorite question: what are facility hours?
Rodriguez’s reliability and excellence in her role have only yielded greater and greater memories over time. She helped open the doors of our Southside facility, guided tours during last year’s Rec Sports reunion, and she was named Facilities & Operations Employee of the Year at last spring’s Student Appreciation Banquet. That same night, she also received the Dave Chovanec scholarship for the great work she does on behalf of the department.
“I would not be the person I am today without Rec Sports,” Rodriguez said. “Being able to see myself grow through Rec Sports has been one of the biggest blessings in my life.”
Rec Sports is something of a family affair for Katelyn; she is the third Rodriguez sibling to study at Texas A&M and work for the department. In fact, it was her older sister who first recommended getting a job at the Rec.
“When I came into college, I knew that I wanted to be a part of something, and my sister was like, ‘you should join Rec Sports,’ so that was what I did,” Rodriguez said. “I applied to work within Facilities, and it just worked out that way, and here I am four years later.”
She continued, “Rec Sports is my home, and it’s been for the past four years. I’ve made some of my closest friends, my best friends, I’ve built relationships with not only my peers I work with but also my bosses. Having that big support system has been one of the greatest blessings that I’ve had throughout Rec Sports.”
She especially remarked on Oscee Wheatfall and Emily Patterson, her supervisors in Facilities & Operations. Both were involved in fostering Rodriguez’s professional development and creating a nurturing environment for her and other Facilities staff.
To Rodriguez, the interconnectedness of student and professional staff at the department makes Rec Sports a microcosm of the greater Texas A&M community; people from all walks of life converge behind the Aggie tradition, each with their own experience of life and drive to excel – but all unified by the Aggie core values.
‘[Rec Sports is] very wide, you have so many different people here, from age, to grade, to major, to anything, you really name it,” Rodriguez said. “You’re surrounded by so many different people from so many different backgrounds, and I think that’s a really good way of getting involved.”
Now that Rodriguez is in her fourth year at Texas A&M, she looks back on the lessons she has learned over the years and how best to move forward with her newly developed skills in mentorship and management.
When asked about a lesson learned through Rec Sports, Rodriguez said, “It’s okay to not always know everything and to make mistakes because making mistakes makes you learn and grow into being the better version of yourself.”
Katelyn Rodriguez will be graduating with a bachelor’s degree in education and looks to extend her mentorship abilities to the classroom.
