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Parks, Recreation and Tourism undergrad student Katie Stanley ready for revolutionary challenge

Published March 2008
Story Source: Christine Tew

Most undergraduate students would balk at the assignment to write a 200-page paper.

With wide eyes they might shake their heads slowly, rereading the offending syllabus or e-mail.

Even in the highest levels of undergraduate studies, few students pen 50,000 words on a single topic. Even fewer want to try.

Katie Stanley volunteered for the job.

Stanley is a senior in the Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department in the School of Natural Resources at the University of Missouri, as well as the national president of the National Society of the Children of the American Revolution.

She's been working on those 200 pages since summer 2007.

Her position with NSCAR includes responsibility for the 200-page national convention agenda. She will also add to more than 10,000 people she has spoken with through her involvement in the Children of the American Revolution.

As the national president, Stanley represents more than 10,000 members of the largest and oldest patriotic youth organization in America, she said.

"It's really about leadership and training the leaders of the future,” she said. "You see 10-year-olds getting up to the microphone in front of 500 people and speaking eloquently."

Stanley was one of those young people that stepped up to the microphone. She joined the organization when she was nine years old, and gained friendship and a sense of responsibility during community service and education events, she said. During her freshman year of high school, she served as the Missouri state president for NSCAR.

The national theme for 2007-2008 is "Leading the American Adventure." As the face of the organization, Stanley has played a large role in a fundraising campaign for the Yorktown National Battlefield, as well. NSCAR is working to endow a Web developer position, making the battlefields and their history more accessible and interactive.

During her national presidency, she has also met with Laura Bush and French dignitaries, Stanley said. The French Ambassador to the U.S. will attend one of her sessions during the NSCAR national convention in April.

Additional responsibilities include attending state conventions most weekends between January and April, participating in wreath layings at historic sites and preparing for a new museum exhibit in Washington D.C.

The ability to juggle many responsibilities and a complicated schedule will serve Stanley well as she completes her bachelor of science degree in parks, recreation and tourism. A love of travel and exploring drew her to the program, she said, and she knows where she'd like to go in the future.

"Right now I'm hoping to go into event planning," she said. "Someday I would like to have my own consulting company."

Stanley is a 2004 graduate of Hickman High School in Columbia, Mo.