Wellesley Recreation Director Wins 'Community Professional of the Year' Award

Jan Kaseta, the Wellesley Recreation Department’s longtime director, was awarded a high honor by a state board at a ceremony last week.

The Massachusetts Park & Recreation Association presented Kaseta with the “Community Professional of the Year” award March 8.

On the honor, Kaseta e-mailed some comments to Wellesley Patch yesterday:

“This is a community that not only expects quality programming but also starts their children’s involvement at a very early age. That’s where the Recreation Department comes in. We have many programs in sports, the arts and other pursuits for children who are too young for organized activities. By organized activities I mean things like the town leagues or drama workshops, which aren’t run by us. We like to think that our instructors are providing a solid basis for kids to help identify their interests while developing an understanding of that activity. But, we’re not just about young kids. We offer many adult classes from exercise to photography to cooking. We are hosting a town basketball league for High School students. This is the first year and it’s a big hit. We’ve got music lessons, chess lessons and art classes for a variety of ages. Our program is diverse and we live by the slogan, “Something for Everyone”.  We offer more classes than any other Recreation Department in the area.  

As a department, we are very lucky to have the Warren Building, which gives us the opportunity to run classes throughout the day. We also pride ourselves on our excellent summer day camps and Wellesley’s gem, . 

My staff and I appreciate the all of the town facilities available to us and we look forward to coming to work every day!”