The joint youth sports and recreation program serving families across Chesterfield, Wildwood, Ballwin, and Ellisville has a new boss. The Rockwood Board of Education approved Danielle Reecht as the next director of Parkway-Rockwood Community Education, effective July 1.

Reecht replaces Mike Seppi, who is retiring at the end of the school year after leading the program for more than 20 years.

She brings nearly two decades in parks and recreation with the City of O'Fallon, where she started in 2007 as a part-time Kids' Korner attendant and camp counselor. She worked her way up through youth activities specialist, program manager, and most recently recreation superintendent, a role she held for three years overseeing day-to-day operations of O'Fallon's Renaud Center fitness and aquatic complex.

Reecht holds the Certified Parks and Recreation Professional credential, the national standard for the field, and is a graduate of the National Recreation and Park Association's Director School. She earned her exercise science degree from Southeast Missouri State.

"What really excites me is my ability to make someone's day," Reecht said in a Missouri Parks and Recreation Association profile. "Whether it's helping a resident find a class that they are interested in, or seeing a child score their first soccer goal."

The Missouri Parks and Recreation Association named her Outstanding New Professional in 2016.

Parkway-Rockwood Community Ed is a joint program between the Parkway and Rockwood school districts. Rockwood, with more than 18,500 students, is St. Louis County's largest public school system. The program runs youth basketball, flag football, and volleyball leagues along with aquatics, outdoor education, school-age care, and performing arts for kids as young as 6 months. It employs more than 300 staff and earned a Top Ten community education program distinction in North America from the Learning Resources Network. Rockwood's board approved the hire at its May meeting; whether Parkway's board voted separately was not confirmed in the announcement.

Reecht lives in Fenton with her husband, John, and two children. She starts July 1.