For Debbra Voorhees, the need to fill an elective requirement in her freshman year of college blossomed into a 21-year career in recreation administration.
The latest station in her career is Plainsboro, where she has been hired as the township’s new director of recreation and community services. Voorhees was chosen out of a pool of over 100 applicants to replace Joanne Lupica, who retired in October. Voorhees began her new position on November 15.
Voorhees previously served as the director of parks and recreation in Holmdel Township for six years. Prior to that, she was the director of recreation in Eatontown for 15 years.
A career in recreation, however, wasn’t always on Voorhees’s radar. She grew up in Morris County in northern New Jersey. Her mother was an executive secretary in the legal department for AT&T, and her father was a vice president at Citibank in New York. She moved with her mother to Hunterdon County just prior to high school.
She got a scholarship and began a pre-med degree at college in Virginia, when in her freshman year, fate came knocking on the door. She was told she needed to take more elective courses and the only one that fit into her schedule at the time was a course in recreation. “I loved it,” she said. Voorhees later transferred to the College of New Jersey, which had a degree in recreation administration. That was a good fit for what Voorhees was looking to do. “It is running a business, but it is a fun business,” she said.
She earned her bachelor’s degree from TCNJ and later her master’s from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Voorhees has developed a statewide reputation and has served as president of the New Jersey Recreation and Parks Association. She has received numerous awards, including the 2008 Administrator of the Year award from the New Jersey Recreation and Parks Association.
One of Voorhees’s main goals is to be a positive force in the quality of life for the residents the township serves. “Cultural diversity is something I have experience with and something that I enjoy working with,” she said of Plainsboro’s community.
“Being able to play a role in impacting the quality of people’s lives in a positive way — to me, there is no better job than that,” she said of her passion. “It’s something you can see the results of when you offer a program.”
Those results come in the form of residents choosing to spend their leisurely time in township-operated programs, she said. And Plainsboro already is already well-known for its offerings. “Plainsboro has an excellent reputation for its programs.”
In fact, the programs are so successful that the township is in the process of transforming its former library building into a recreation and cultural community facility to accommodate the demand. Voorhees said the success of the township’s recreational programs is a testament to the good work done by the recreation staff, including Lupica.
The Township Committee gave the go-ahead to professionals to finish the design stage and go out to bid for the renovation of the 19,200-square-foot existing structure and the outside plaza surrounding it back in May.
Plans for the building include a kitchen area to be used as a cooking classroom, an arts and crafts room, meeting rooms, computer lab space, an isolated drop-in center for after-hour events, storage areas, and more. Construction is expected to begin in 2011.
“That is presenting a lot of exciting opportunity, and that was another thing that appealed to me,” she said.
In her career, Voorhees said she has experience overseeing the transformation of open space into recreational opportunities and overseeing construction of buildings on recreational grounds.
Mayor Peter Cantu praised her background and the experience she brings with her to the township. “Debbra’s credentials are not only outstanding, but also a great match for Plainsboro,” he said. “She has developed programming in culturally-diverse communities and has extensive facilities management experience, which will serve us well as the new Community Recreation Center comes on line.”
From her prior experiences, Voorhees said she has learned the importance of good communication with other team members and with the community she serves. “I like to hear feedback about our programs and events and tailor them for the residents,” she said.
Voorhees’s immediate goals include “maximizing the potential of each recreation team member to operate in the most efficient and effective manner we can to provide the highest level of customer service,” she said. “The other is to focus on the development of the new community center.”
