RECognition: Matthew Risley, Recreation Experience

Recreation's monthly series to highlight our fabulous staff

By Shawn Cyr
Assistant Marketing Director

When incoming Facility Supervisors in Recreation Experience glean info about their new gigs from the how-to manuals, Matthew Risley will be able to take some small credit for that.

“Matthew has been integral to our program area, as he has helped us rebuild our staff manuals for every Rec Experience role, giving our team additional resources to be successful,” says Bobby Jaffe, Recreation Experience Coordinator for Main Gym.

Matthew — a double major in political science and economics (2025) in Eleanor Roosevelt College — joined REC in January of 2023 because “it sounded like a great college job.” He said the best part of working for Recreation is “all of the wonderful people you meet."

“I spend much of my free time doing some sort of recreation and I thought working at a gym with patrons who (for the most part) were also college students sounded fun,” he says.

Fast-forward to today and Matthew is now a Facility Supervisor (Fac Sup) and Student Manager — and a critical resource for REC Experience, Jaffe says. 

“We have had the opportunity to see Matthew grow into a leader within our workspace over the last year,” Jaffe says.

As a Fac Sup, Matthew assists with the operations, openings, and closings of RIMAC and Main Gym. Meanwhile, his Student Manager role has him largely focusing on preparing training materials for upcoming Fac Sups. 

But it’s not all work for Matthew. He likes to spend time rock climbing at the Outback Climbing Center (OCC) and calls the sport “a great combination of physical and mental exercise.”

Devoted readers of the UCSD Guardian student newspaper will also recognize his name from film reviews he’s written.

“I am planning to write again this year, though I won't be as active as in years past,” he says. “I still hope to cover films, particularly the San Diego Asian Film Festival, which has always been my favorite event to cover.”

It turns out, Matthew is an expert in manuals and movies — and most things in between.