NCCAP Celebrates its 15th Anniversary
by Kathy Hughes, ADC
NCCAP Vice President
It's
hard to believe that NCCAP is only fifteen years old.
Those of you who attended the conference in Burlington,
VT helped us celebrate when you stopped by the NCCAP
booth to receive your "limited edition" water
bottle.
NCCAP
has come far in such a short period of time. In the
summer issue of the NCCAP newsletter, the most recent
progress of NCCAP was shared. Each of the prior boards
have continued with reviewing the Standards, By-laws,
certified criteria, and the roles of the individual
board members. The original board of directors gave
us an excellent foundation on which to build. It has
been a very positive experience working with the other
board members as we have continued to review the certification
criteria to ensure that it meets the needs of the population
that we serve. As a review, I would like to highlight
a couple of the significant areas that have strengthened
the organization and the profession over the last 15
years.
With
the development of the NCCAP web site, NCCAP.ORG, people
all over the world can now review the certification
standards and criteria. The web site also allows people
to dis-cuss various issues on the bul-letin board, which
has proved to be a very productive form of communication.
The
Modular Education Program for Activity Profes-sionals
(MEPAP) Part 1, Basic Education Course, intro-duced
in 1992 (in Washing-ton, DC) for trainers has pro-vided
a strong core of neces-sary information for activity
professionals. The authors (all possessing backgrounds
in activities) recognized that, with the increased knowl-edge
we needed to be an effective activity profession-als,
the number of classroom and practicum hours needed to
increase and also be made consistent. Therefore, the
90-hour courses became the standard.
The
education/practicum training was further enhanced when
MEPAP, Part 2, Advanced Management Course, was intro-duced
a few years later.
There
are a lot of talented professionals in the activities
field, and the curriculum is reflective of their skills
and knowledge.
You,
our members - 6,500 strong - have recognized the value
of certification. We, your Board, need your ongo-ing
participation and input in order to continue to meet
the needs of the certified activity professionals at
the high standard we have set and maintained.
We
thank you for 15 years of building a stronger and more
effective national envi-ronment for activities and for
activity professionals, and look forward to many more
years of excellence in our field. NN
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