The College Hill Recreation Center at Cleveland has a new director. She is Shneka Whaley. Parks and Recreation Director Patti Petitt introduced her to the Cleveland City Council on Monday.
She is the daughter of Maria and Jed Whaley of Cleveland.
Her basketball career began at age five at the Northeast Recreation Center, the former name of the center where she is now director.
She played basketball for four years at Cleveland High School, earning a basketball scholarship at Jackson State University, starting as a freshman.
She attended Jackson State from 1995 - 2000, earning a bachelors degree in recreation administration with a minor in physical education.
“I chose this major because I tore my ACL and was told that I would not play basketball again so that pushed me to working at a local center in Jacksonville at which I was helping other kids to pursue their basketball dreams as well. I overcame my injury and proved the doctors wrong and was able to come back and play my fourth year in 2000," Ms. Whaley said.
After working in different professions including probation/parole officer, claims representative, physical education/wellness teacher, she became a recreation specialist in Chattanooga. She worked at Chattanooga's Washington Hills Center and recently moved to the Carver Center before coming to Cleveland.
"I believe that the kids are our future and in order for our future to become or even look brighter, we have to take the initiative to welcome, groom, mentor, and help our children of the future and as the new director of College Hill, I plan to help create, implement, and improve our youth and their extracurricular activities," Ms. Whaley said.