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Niverville is an expanding community – in fact, census data shows it is the fastest-growing municipality in Manitoba. Services are also being added to meet the needs of the growing population, including for popular recreation and sports activities.

The municipality recently opened a new state-of-the-art facility, the Niverville Community Resource & Recreation Centre (CRRC). The CRRC has boosted the town’s capacity to offer a rich array of programming, including new types of sports such as futsal, a variation of indoor soccer played on a gym floor.

Town of  Niverville, MB

The facility houses an arena with space for 700 spectators, a multi-use multi-court called the AMF Fieldhouse, an indoor multi-storey playground, a community kitchen and more.

“With our growth, we definitely needed a centre like this so we could expand sports and recreation options for residents of Niverville and the surrounding areas,” says Cassandra Falk, Camps & Recreation Programmer with the Town of Niverville’s Recreation Department.

Testing their recipes at Culinary Camp. Hosted at the CRRC for children aged 6- 12

“This space has allowed us to be even more creative with our programming, especially for our summer camps program. Two summers ago, we had eight summer day camps, and in 2022, with our new facility, we were able to have 23 day camps. It’s been incredible,” Cassandra says.

Campers were able to use the indoor playground, the running track and sports equipment in the fieldhouse, as well as do crafts and for some, to attend “culinary camp,” where they cooked in the community kitchen.

Thanks to funding from the CPRA Youth Employment Experience program, the Town of Niverville was able to hire Chloé Champagne as Recreation Leader to help make the expanded day camp program a success. She prepared and led camp activities for children from age three to 13 and provided support for other recreational programs run out of the CRRC.

The CPRA program is funded by the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment Skills Strategy program, and is designed to give young people the chance to gain experience and develop their skills in the parks and recreation sector, while enhancing the capacity of the organizations employing them. 2022 was the second year that the municipality received the program funding, and Chloé’s second summer supported by the program.

“Being able to hire Chloé allowed us to enrich our camp programming and provide good experiences for the children. And with the CPRA program’s focus on mentorship, we were able to help her develop her leadership abilities as she coordinated activities with other staff,” says Cassandra, who took on the role of Chloé’s main mentor.

“I was attracted to this job because I’m interested in a career in education, and I saw working with children as a good foundation for teaching,” Chloé says. “When I worked with the day camps in 2021, I loved it and wanted to come back. And I’ve learned I especially enjoy working with kids in the eight to 11 age range.”

Chloé is now in her first year of a two-year Bachelor of Education program at the Université de Saint-Boniface in Winnipeg.

Meeting Elsa at Kinder Camp – Princess & Heroes. Hosted at the CRRC for children aged 3- 6

She says she enjoyed the opportunity to work with different group of kids of various ages and with different personalities. “I think that’s good preparation for teaching, where it’s also true that not every day is going to be the same, and you have to learn to adapt.”

As a mentor, Cassandra wanted to demonstrate her style of leadership to Chloé. “I also made sure I kept an open line of communication between us, stressing that it’s important in any job to communicate well with your supervisor,” Cassandra says.

“Chloé did a great job of leading other staff and also contributed a lot to the quality of the campers’ experiences, as shown by all the positive feedback we received from parents. I certainly hope this experience will help her in her future career as a teacher.”