This summer, Mercer Island’s Parks and Recreation Department is home to young professionals who are making play their work.

The warm season is the department’s busiest, and many seasonal staff are hired, from lifeguards to camp counselors. Overseeing the activities and programs are college students or recent graduates, many looking for a future in parks and recreation management. They are managing the beaches, running the sports and day camps and making sure Summer Celebration! and other events run smoothly.

“We have hundreds of kids that participate in [summer] activities, as well as hundreds of more park users, and it is important for us to recruit, hire, train and supervise seasonal staff to provide the best experience we can for the participants and the staff,” said Recreation Superintendent Diane Mortenson.

The department hires 30 seasonal employees and a number of maintenance staff for the parks, trails and open spaces over the summer months.

Assistant Recreation Coordinator Morgan McCarthy is a seasoned veteran of Island summers. She was a counselor in training (CIT) at age 14 and has been back every summer since. This year, her 10th with the city, her job is to lead staff trainings, supervise camps and help out with programs like Mostly Music in the Park and Adventure Playground.

“It’s the perfect summer job,” she said. “There’s nothing better than being at camp.”

Throughout the rest of the year, McCarthy works as a special education teacher for first through fifth graders at Bennett Elementary School in Bellevue.

McCarthy said she’s been impressed with the creativity of both the kids and counselors. Last week, day campers put on a talent show. This week, Mini Mercer campers are playing “foot golf” — golf played with a soccer ball. Adventure Playground has had a record number of attendees creating “build-it-yourself play zones” forest of Deane’s Children’s Park.

Recreation Coordinator Katie Herzog said it’s “a huge help” to have responsible and reliable summer staff members. The full-time Parks and Recreation employees start planning summer events months ahead of time.

“We start in the winter thinking of camp themes and field trips, but we count on the staff to bring everything to life,” Herzog said.

Herzog started as an intern, and said the city enjoys having new staff and fresh ideas every summer.

Many have backgrounds in recreation management or teaching. Beach Manager Mallory Campbell is a product of the Recreation and Tourism Program at Central Washington University (CWU), and was the aquatic recreation manager for the City of Ellensburg.

“I like seeing the recreation majors come in and see what we do, and hopefully they’ll move on and work with a city someday,” Herzog said.

Campbell leads weekly training sessions for lifeguards and guards Luther Burbank four days a week. She said her guards haven’t had to make any saves at Luther Burbank this year, but had three incidents at the beginning of the summer at Groveland.

“It was all done really quickly and effectively, and the community that was there watching was really impressed, which is good to hear,” Campbell said.

Other young professionals getting their start in the recreation field include Reality Cummings, who is getting internship credit at CWU for her work as day camp coordinator, and Grant Polhemus, director of the Mini Mercer sports camps, who is a student at East Carolina University.

McCarthy said she’ll be back next summer too, “if they’ll have me.”

“If I could do this every summer, it would be great,” she said. “Other teachers work at wineries or summer school, but my job is by far the best.”