As director of the Sugar Creek Parks and Recreation department, Pam Burnham oversaw the opening of a new splash pool in the Independence suburb. Instead of a ribbon cutting, she strung different-colored pool noodles on twine, then had children cut the twine with safety knives.
“We had a noodle cutting,” she said.
Pam, Clinton’s new Aquatic Center director, brings creative talents to the job that she started on May 31, stepping into the job held by Ann Drury, who retired.
Pam said she will be planning events as soon as she gets her head around what’s happening at the pool now, and supervising 30 people.
In addition to program planning for Sugar Creek Parks and Rec, Pam has 22 years experience as an office manager and worked in marketing for a senior care facility. She is a certified instructor in Zumba Gold, Laughter Yoga and Cardio Drumming, and taught a combination of Tai Chi, Pilates and Yoga in the center’s salt-water pool as an Aquatic Mind-Body instructor.
“We opened the pool to the public, and I taught classes free of charge,” she said.
It was an interest in teaching classes that led her to finding her new niche in Clinton. Pam and her husband had sold their house in Sugar Creek, she said, and have property near Warsaw, with plans to retire there some day. They were renting a house in the meantime, and Pam was looking for work in the Clinton area.
“I knew I wanted to be busy and to be involved in the community,” she said.
So she visited the Clinton Senior Center, and then went across the street to the Clinton Community Center, asking if they were looking for instructors for art or craft classes, which she also teaches. The receptionist at the Community Center mentioned that Pam had stopped in to Ann Drury, the Aquatic Center director.
Ann, who has worked at the indoor pool since it opened in 2006, was planning to retire.
“She ‘wrote the book’ for the job,” Pam said.
Ann will still be at the pool as the swim team coach for the “Littles,” Pam said.
Pam is originally from Carrollton County, Mo., and has lived in New York, Colorado Springs and the Kansas City metropolitan area. When she was 19, she took a Red Cross training course and became a certified lifeguard, and was a camp counselor at Girl Scout Camp Sacajawea in Iowa.
For the Clinton job, she had to be re-certified as a shallow water lifeguard, which she did on June 6. She also needs to become a certified pool operator, Pam said, but has a maintenance person and managers who are certified in that area.
In mid-May, Pam and her husband bought and moved into a house a mile and half from the center, at 1002 E. Sedalia Ave., so Pam plans to commute by bicycle. Her husband is commuting to the Independence area, where he’s helping open a new Cargo Largo outlet.
While she was at Sugar Creek Parks and Recreation, Pam said the department opened a disc-golf course, and had “disc-golf dogs” performing tricks at the opening event. In April, they held a kite festival that drew more than 3,000 people, she said.
“It was amazing to see families enjoying the outdoors” she said.
When she was at the senior center, she organized a winter-wonderland birthday party in the domed-roof pool. The party was, she said, “complete with a snowball fight.”
