There is a new recreation and aquatics supervisor in town, and her name is Dawn Norman.

But Norman is no foreigner to the Verde Valley; she came to Sedona’s Parks and Recreation department after 11 years at the town of Clarkdale.

Ever since starting in Clarkdale in 2006, she enjoyed what it meant to work with the community.

“I fell in love with it,” Norman said. “I found it challenging but also fulfilling at the same time because of the return you get on it with working with the public.”

What drove Norman to take interest in making the move 20 miles up State Route 89A was the prospect of working one-on-one with the public, attending events and getting involved with aquatics after Clarkdale’s pool closed. She worked there as parks and recreation supervisor until an economic decline saw the department combine with the library, when she became community services supervisor.

With that came more administrative work rather than the community interaction and event coordination that she enjoyed so much.

“When I saw the opportunity to be a part of a community pool again, which was something that in Clarkdale they don’t have anymore, I was really drawn to it because there were aspects of my position that I really missed,” Norman said. “And this position filled what I was missing.”

Being that the Verde Valley is a growing yet small community, Norman already knew Rachel Murdoch, Sedona’s parks and recreation manager. That prior relationship and Norman’s familiarity with the area made her a top candidate.

“We had some really good applicants, but knowing she already had the experience and she was local just made her way more valuable than the rest of them,” Murdoch said. “She’s got a positive attitude, which is more than half the battle … She’s smart, so she knows what she’s working on and knows what she needs to get familiar with.”

Norman started on June 13 after a two- to three-week hiring process, so she did not have the opportunity to make any plans for the summer aside from what was already in place. She has been learning about what is already established before moving on to planning more on her own.

“I love it so far. I love the team that I’m working alongside,” said Norman, who added that due to the valley’s small size, every community’s department is conscious and sensitive to what the others are doing.

Because of that she always knew what Sedona had to offer.

One of those things is the organized sports leagues, such as the adult summer softball league and the grasshopper youth basketball league. The main difference for her from Clarkdale is being in charge of them.

“My goal this year is really to become familiar with the operations right now in order to prepare for next season,” Norman said. “Learning what’s already in place before building on it. There’s always room for improvement.”

She got her start when she “just fell into parks and recreation.” She credited Erin Estes, with whom she worked in Clarkdale, for getting her into it. Before then she had never considered taking that kind of job.

“I thank her because of the fact that it was an interest I had never been exposed to and I just loved it,” Norman said. “I loved working with the youth in the community, because it is a youth employment program, in a sense, for our area.”

Norman will also help coordinate events outside of recreation, such as the pancake breakfast with Santa Claus in December.