Washington Community Y gets new director

The new director at the Washington Community Y had her first day on the job today. Becky Harkema is an Iowa native but she is moving back to the area all the way from Kennebunk, Maine, where she was the director of a YMCA.

Harkema is no stranger to southeast Iowa, having grown up and graduated high school in New Sharon. She went to college at Iowa State University where she majored in physical education with an emphasis in exercise science. She considered going into corporate fitness and took an internship at Townsend Engineering.

The assistant director at the firm knew Harkema had been a lifeguard at the pool in New Sharon, and suggested she become a lifeguard at the Walnut Creek YMCA in Des Moines. After graduating from college, Harkema became the aquatics director and later the wellness director at Walnut Creek, which she credits as launching her career in the YMCA.

Harkema has worked at many YMCAs in her life. She moved to Fort Worth, Texas, to work as a physical director, which involved supervising the Y?s outdoor pool and sports. She then moved to St. Louis, where she worked at two YMCAs. Harkema said she was not consciously trying to work at larger and larger Y?s, it?s just that those were the opportunities that presented themselves.

?I just wanted to have an experience and make a difference,? she said.

Harkema moved from St. Louis to Ottumwa, where she became the CEO of the Ottumwa YMCA. She left the Midwest for the East Coast when she got a job supervising two independent Y?s in Maine, where she has lived for the past 11 years.

One of the Y?s she managed was the Northern Yorktown YMCA, which was in bad financial shape. Harkema recommended that it merge with the nearby Cumberland County YMCA, even though this meant the elimination of the administrative staff, including her position.

?I thought a lot about that decision, but the Y is more than just me,? she said. ?It?s about the community and the people we serve. I knew I needed to make it better for the employees. I wasn?t able to give them raises for three years. I know I made the right decision because it put the 100 employees in a much better spot and now they?ll all get raises.?

Harkema said the decision was difficult because she didn?t know what she would do after her job ended in Maine. Fortunately, she had made enough connections in the YMCA that she was able to line up job interviews all over the country. One of those was in Washington, a town she had been to just once before when she and her sister traveled through it over Memorial Day this year.

?When I came here, I was so impressed with the board,? she said. ?I just knew that if they offered me the position, this is what I was going to do.?

Harkema has moved around often and said that, while she didn?t mind new scenery every few years, she is ready to settle down and stay in one place for awhile. Fortunately, the place she found is within an hour?s drive of her hometown, where her four brothers live. She is also closer to her sister, who lives in St. Genevieve, Mo.

?It wasn?t that difficult to move because I like to meet new people,? she said. ?My hobbies also help me meet people.?

Her hobbies include camping, hiking and running. She has run in nine marathons and one ?ultra marathon,? that was 50,000 meters (about 31 miles).

?I like doing those wacky things,? she said. ?I?ve run up Mount Washington in New Hampshire, which is the highest point on the East Coast.?

Harkema has been active in sports her whole life. In high school, she played softball and basketball and ran track and cross-country.

?I always wanted to stay in the fitness realm,? she said. ?I?ve really liked the YMCA. To me, it?s more than just a place to work out. It?s a place where you can develop people. I really enjoy seeing staff go on to bigger and better things and raise their families. That?s very gratifying to me.?