Spotlight on Volunteers – Ann Shaw-Jenkins
Parks and Recreation Commissioner
 
Ann Shaw-Jenkins Works to make Community Recreation Center a Reality
 
Quality of life is a key issue for Cottonwood’s Ann Shaw-Jenkins. A six-year member of the Cottonwood Parks and Recreation Commission, she has worked diligently in the planning process for a multigenerational Cottonwood Community Recreation Center. Understanding the community’s need for a place to play, learn and work, Parks and Recreation commissioners recently completed a long-awaited feasibility study and development plan for the proposed recreation center.
 
Shaw-Jenkins enjoys serving on the Parks and Recreation Commission. “We are there to review the issues of the department and help the director make decisions. We process information about and prioritize projects for the Parks and Recreation Commission. We help structure the five year plan and look at monthly reports showing revenues,” she says.
 
Besides her enthusiasm about a community recreation center, Shaw-Jenkins especially likes working with the community’s youth. She owns and manages New Visions Academy, a charter school for high school students at risk of dropping out of school. New Visions has schools in Cottonwood and St. Johns. They also operate Payson’s Star Valley School. Besides teaching classes at the Cottonwood school, Shaw-Jenkins manages the financial business for all three schools.
 
So strong is her belief in the power of volunteerism, Shaw-Jenkins’ students volunteer 20 hours in the community to receive their diplomas. “It is essential to stay connected to our community and understand what the needs of people in the community might be,” she says. “It’s not enough to be self-satisfied with our own little piece of the pie—we need to help each other.” She encourages her students to serve their community. “They make important community contacts, and sometimes it is even the pathway to a job,” she says.
 
After growing up in Greensburg, Indiana, Shaw-Jenkins moved to Arizona 20 years ago. She got her master’s degree from Arizona State University and taught elementary school in El Mirage for three years. She has lived next door to her mother in Cottonwood 12 years. Her daughter, who lives with Shaw-Jenkins, also works at New Visions Academy. Shaw-Jenkins has a brother in Indiana and a sister who is moving from Alaska to Las Vegas.
 
Shaw-Jenkins enjoys swimming. “That’s what I do all summer,” she says. She also enjoys watching movies and going out to dinner once a week with family. Her favorite quote is Socrates’ statement about valuing knowledge, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
 
Shaw-Jenkins learned about volunteerism from her grandmother, who was a Red Cross volunteer. “My grandmother didn’t work outside the home, but sometimes she helped at my grandfather’s store, and she was a Red Cross gray lady,” says Shaw-Jenkins. Her grandmother greeted people at the hospital, directed visitors to patients’ rooms and made sure flowers got to patients. “Other members of my family are community conscious people and our jobs have been community centered,” she adds.
 
Shaw-Jenkins is hopeful that Cottonwood will not experience such overwhelming growth that the town won’t be able to maintain the way of life residents currently enjoy. She likes the revitalization in older areas of town. “I am really impressed with the new Senior Center. I love the idea of taking an old structure and making it into something viable and beautiful again.” she says. She would like to see the town progress and become better without becoming overly strained and resource stretched. She would dislike seeing dreadful traffic and danger brought to what is now a quiet and pleasant community.
 
If she could get community members to do just one thing, it would be to vote. “Pay attention to issues--too many people assume it’s someone else’s job,” she says.
 
Parks and Recreation Director Richard Faust praises Shaw-Jenkins’s work in the community, “Ann truly is a community servant. Her commitment to youth and the community of Cottonwood are near and dear to her heart,” Faust says. “She is one of the most genuine people whose heart is steadfast and visionary for the youth of today. As a visionary, her capacity to focus with clarity and passion is refreshing and a very valuable character trait in today's society. She understands community needs and concentrates much of her life toward sharing of herself unselfishly to the teens and young adults of this community.”
 
Shaw-Jenkins says, “My wish for Cottonwood in the next 10 years is that it will become a community with a recreation center. We need a community center--something that doesn’t involve eating and shopping and sitting, but involves healthy activity and brings a heart to the place that it doesn’t currently have,” she says. She is hopeful the community is willing to make the monetary contribution that is required to have the town they would like to have.
 
 
 
 
Spotlight on Volunteers is written by Diane Joens on behalf of the Cottonwood City Council. Council members recognize the invaluable contributions volunteers make to the betterment of city government and the community. There are many opportunities to volunteer and make a positive difference. Council members encourage everyone to get involved. Volunteer today!