We are extremely proud of Lindsey Robertson, Arlington Heights Park District ‘s Aquatic Manager. Today she was named Illinois Park and Recreation Association‘s Young Professional of the Year.
This award is given to a single recipient each year who has less than 8 years’ full-time work experience who has made significant contributions in their community and on a state-wide level.
Lindsey Robertson started her full-time career at the Arlington Height Park District in May 2013 as the Recreation Supervisor for Recreation Park. That may been have when her career started, but her love for parks and recreation began as a pool rat at the Rolling Meadows Park District where she spent days at the pool enjoying swim lessons, swim teams, and hanging with friends. Those early days guided her to parks and recreation as a career.
At Recreation Park, Lindsey supervised one outdoor pool, a community center, and special events. In April 2014, Lindsey was promoted to Aquatic Program Supervisor, taking on a large district wide program area consisting of 9 different swim teams, water exercise, birthday parties, and aquatic rentals. In May 2018, she earned additional responsibilities in Aquatics and took on lifeguard training, swim lessons, and supervision of a full-time supervisor. With five outdoor, one indoor, nearly 300 lifeguards, and another 100-part time staff she was able to grow the culture of aquatics for the staff and residents. Our residents are never far from her mind. Over her short career so far her efforts have impacted tens of thousands in Arlington Heights who have taken a swim lesson, been on a swim team or visited one of our pools.
Lindsey applies the same drive and desire for Aquatics to her other areas of responsibility. She is an Administrator for our Recreation Software. She knows the ins and outs of it very well and serves as the go to person for many staff. She has served on the IPRA Facility Management Board as Secretary from 2015 to 2017. For FM she has helped and ran Lifeguard Games and was awarded the FM Young Professional of the Year in 2015.
In January 2020, Arlington Ridge Center opened. Lindsey was front and center, along with several staff, as the face of the facility in her new position of Aquatic Manager. At ARC, in the two months we were opened prior to Covid, we saw over 10,000 members sign up and had just over 59,000 visits. Then Covid hit and threw a nasty curveball at all of us. Work came to a screeching halt…but not for long. She worked collaboratively with our Park’s and Trades team, Administrative team, and Park Board on how to safely open pools. When IDPH released the guidelines on May 24 all her work paid off as we opened our first outdoor pool for lap swimming on June 19. That was followed by opening two more outdoor pools and the indoor facility at ARC for a total of four pools for our residents this past summer. She helped create and manage a membership and reservation system that allowed for 35,354 reservations that generated $135,000 in revenue. She also developed a safe swim team program that over 8 weeks allowed for 940 registrations for $35,000.
The word no is not in her vocabulary. We are so lucky to have her as part of the Arlington Heights Park District family.