Hillary Rieveley
Site Director
Lakeview, IL
How long have you worked for FOSS?
2 years.
What is your favorite part about working for FOSS?
Getting to watch the children grow and improve from one session to the next. Especially when you skip a session with a student and you get them again and see how much they have changed.
What is your favorite level to teach and why?
Babies—I love the chance to interact with the parents and babies. It’s great to see a baby who maybe wouldn’t give you a high five on the first day end up being the most outgoing in the class by the end of the session.
Tell a story about a student who experienced a major “lightbulb” moment when you were with them.
I had a big one over the spring and we started with the basics of being afraid to put our eyes in the water. Each week we worked toward increasing the number of bananas. By our second to last week we got up to five and for the last week I let him wear goggles. During that last lesson he swam for the first time ever by himself and I have never seen a child so excited to accomplish a task. The parents were extremely excited and glad to see him accomplish the skill. As a teacher, I would say it was one of my biggest accomplishments to get him to do that, so I made sure we celebrated and made a big deal out of it.
What is your favorite swim lesson activity to do with kids and why?
I love teaching secret agent arms for butterfly. It is the most important part of the stroke to make sure they have power and they enjoy the game of it.
