In our fourth episode, Datis Mohsenipour, VP of Marketing at Xplor Recreation spoke to John Dunn III, Recreation Superintendent at the City of Tukwila, Washington.
For over 25 years, John has been committed to serving his community through parks and recreation. His journey began when he switched his undergraduate major from computer science to parks and recreation, driven by a passion to help others. John started his career at the City of Pullman, where he worked for eight years, before moving to the City of Tukwila, where he's been making an impact for the last 17 years.
In his spare time, John stays true to his parks and recreation roots by doing what he loves most: coaching hockey, attending concerts with his daughter, and recreating with his friends.
Join us as we dive into John’s inspiring story, hear about the moments he's most proud of, and learn about his experiences in empowering communities. Listen to the podcast or read the interview transcription below!
Listen to Episode 4 of Parks and Recognize:
Prefer to Read the Interview? See Below.
Datis: If you could eat only one meal for the rest of your life, John, what would it be?
John: Pizza, without a doubt. Love pizza.
Datis: What's your go-to pizza topping?
John: Usually, the go to is a pepperoni and sausage, and then I'll mix it up sometimes and maybe add some bacon or go with the meat lovers, but pepperoni sausage is the staple.
Datis: Well, for the folks listening in today, tell us, John, what do you do and where do you do it?
John: So my position is recreation superintendent at the city of Tukwila. I've actually been there now seventeen years. Before that, I was with the city of Pullman, working there for eight years. I've been in the rec field for a while, in my current role, I manage the front desk customer service for our community center, and then I also oversee customer service at the golf course in the pro shop. I am also taking on the special event permitting and eventually working into managing special events for large special events for the city of Tukwila.
Datis: If I'm doing my math right, that's twenty five years roughly that you've been in parks and rec?
John: Yep. Twenty five years, basically since I got out of school, went right in. And actually part of that was while I was in school. That's how I found the passion for parks and rec.
Datis: What took you down that path? What made you decide to explore that passion?
John: It was actually kind of funny because originally when I went to school, I was going to be in computer science. I love computers, I love software, I love numbers, and then I realized that's not what I want to do for the rest of my life. I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and I was talking to a neighbor of mine, and I was joking, I said, ‘well, I want to play for a living’. She was like, ‘well, have you ever heard of parks and rec?’. And like many parks and rec professionals, I kind of fell into it, because as we started talking and finding out all the different things that you can do, the folks that you can serve, that's where I was like, ‘okay, this is what I want to do the rest of my life'.
Datis: That is so cool. I ask this question to everybody we talk to on these interview calls. And oftentimes, it's family members or friends or their involvement in parks and rec through their own childhood and teenage years. This is the first-time hearing that a neighbor inspired that.
John: She was going to grad school for it. I didn't even know you could get a degree in it, let alone anything about the field. I started doing a little research when she mentioned it. and well, I just walked into a professor's office on campus, in the rec department and started talking to him and learning more. And that's the degree I went for.
Datis: You were involved in hockey quite a bit early in your careers. Is that right?
John: I played in college on a club team, and then I took some time off once I graduated, and then my kids started getting into hockey. So, I started coaching, I've been coaching now probably about twelve years now.
Datis: What does community mean to you?
John: For me, community has multiple layers to it. You have your community that you live in, you are supported by them, you support them. That's your personal community, your family, your close friends. Then there's the community that's bigger than you and your family. For me, recreation is so vital. There are people that have needs, that process of offering these different activities to give people a break from their normal lives, from the stress of school, work. Being able to provide that community and welcome everybody and let them know, 'we're here for you'. That's kind of the bigger picture of community for me.
Datis: In the work that you do, you're quite deeply involved in empowering and supporting your communities. I'm sure over the many years you've been able to see the kind of impact that you and your team have had on the community and watching that community really grow and evolve through the work that you do. Can you share a little bit about your experiences with that?
John: I think that growth and constant change that we go through with parks and rec, we're always looking for the new thing or what needs need to be met. Some of those examples we ran across and if we hadn't reached out and talked to folks, we wouldn't have even known. For example, we have a very large immigration population in our community. Depending on the cultures, there's some that need to have separation of males and females. We realized that we had folks that really wanted to work out, but there was mixed genders in there. So, we were able to offer different times and segment times that were women only to give people an opportunity to go in and be physically fit, which led to us offering fitness classes that way. Those are the type of impacts that we've seen. I think the other big one was during COVID. As we all know, that that was a big one, seeing the needs for recreation at that point. When it very first hit, we had seniors who were the most vulnerable, who were afraid to leave the house. Some of them are low income or set income and trying to get food to their house, but do it safely. We were able to get a grant right off the bat and we were able to use that money to provide meals. It was basically an extended version of the Meals on Wheels program, but we served, I think it was almost twenty five thousand meals into our community. It was front door service where we would drop it off at their front door, step back so that we always maintain social distancing. It was able to provide meals to folks who couldn't get out of the community.
Datis: I'd love it if you could share a couple moments that you're really proud of in your career as a parks and recreation professional and why they were really important to you.
John: Well, one of the ones that I love sharing is that story about the meals for the seniors. It was a quick response to an ever-changing situation of the unknown. The whole world didn't know what to do, we didn't know what was going on, we didn't know what to expect. Our entire team adapting and changing, I think that was one I feel proudest about. I think the other one kind of ties into the growth of staff. We have kids who will come through our programs, and then they start working for us. I can't tell you how many of those kids who then start working for us. Now they go to school for it, and they become teachers, they become advocates for kids, they become counselors. I think that giving that experience of quality interaction with as a youth, as a staff, and having that interaction with all the different age groups. I know I had one person who was coming through our program. She didn't directly report to me, but I saw her in the hallways and I would talk to her. Her plan was to be a marine biologist, if I remember right. I remember talking to her, and she enjoyed it, but she didn't feel like that was her right calling. I just kind of remember having that conversation of, ‘well, what do you enjoy doing? When are you the happiest?’. She then said she loved it here, working with the kids. She actually changed her major and is now working for a nonprofit working for kids. It's just kind of cool seeing that growth and that change in the staff.
Datis: What can we catch you doing in your spare time?
John: Coaching is a big one, that is a bucket filler for me. But if it's not coaching, I love going to concerts, my daughter's my concert buddy. When she can get a break from college, we'll try to go to hit some concerts, we enjoy doing that. I also play hockey in an adult league, so that's my other go to. Occasionally I like to video game, so I get on with my buddies.
Datis: I'm going to double back to our icebreaker question, and I'm going to add another one to it now that I know about your passion for concerts. John, what is your favorite concert that you've attended?
John: That's a good question because I've done quite a few that I really enjoy. You're stumping me here, that's a good question. I would almost say because of the energy in the stage theatrics, Slipknot is one of my favorites. I've actually seen them three times. And I'm going to see them a fourth time this summer.
Datis: If you have any one piece of career advice you can share to other parks and rec professionals, what would it be?
John: I know many people get into this field to serve, and that's what drives most of us. I think particularly for younger folks starting in this field, we put everything we have out there, but remembering to recreate ourselves. I think finding what fills your bucket because, you know, we parks and rec covers a lot of stuff, there's so many different aspects to recreation. Even if it's not necessarily your exact job title and duties is still find that thing that fills your bucket. My biggest bucket filler, like I mentioned before, is coaching hockey. I absolutely love coaching, and that fills mine. So, I would say recreate yourselves and then find that bucket. What fills your bucket?
Datis: John, I'm really grateful to know you, very grateful for the time that I get to spend with you through these calls and in person, and really grateful for you taking the time to share your journey with other parks and recreation professionals and for sharing that very valuable advice. Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to see you this last time at the WRPA, but I'll be sure to swing on down to Tukwila soon to visit you. Until then, take care and thanks again.
John: Thank you.
Wrapping it up:
Stay tuned for more inspiring episodes as we continue to spotlight remarkable parks and rec professionals. Want to share your story on a future episode of Parks and Recognize? Contact xr_marketing@xplortechnologies.com.
