Abby Wild
Manager in Training for Minnesota Schools
Chanhassen, MN
How long have you worked for FOSS?
I’ve worked at FOSS for about two months! Currently, I’m helping out in the office, teaching two-week swim camps, and am on deck a bit!
What is your favorite part about working for FOSS?
I absolutely LOVE working with the kids and seeing them have fun during lessons while improving their swimming. It really energizes me.
What is your favorite level to teach and why?
I love teaching Little 1s and helping them get adjusted to the water and begin to enjoy being in it. I also love Big 3s—teaching breaststroke and butterfly is so much fun! The kids love to swim like dolphins.
What is your favorite skill to teach and why?
Definitely back floats and pancake flips. I think that floating on your back, being able to flip from your back to your stomach, and vice versa are such important safety skills.
What is your favorite skill to teach and why?
Definitely back floats and pancake flips. I think that floating on your back, being able to flip from your back to your stomach, and vice versa are such important safety skills.
Can you recount a student of yours who experienced a major “lightbulb” moment when you were with them?
One of my students was going through a period where he lacked confidence in his ability to swim, even though he’d previously swam independently. We really worked together to build his confidence (a lot of high fives where I fell back into the water because he was so strong), and he got a kick out of showing me how strong he was. Eventually, he wanted to show me he was so strong that he could do harvester hands and kick all the way to the island. Both the swimmer and I were so proud of how brave and strong he was, and his mom was thrilled! He gave me lots of fall-back high-fives afterward!
Have you ever swum competitively? What was your most fulfilling achievement, if so?
I did swim competitively! My most fulfilling achievement was swimming the mile competitively and doing decently at it. I’d previously been a breastroker, but I was struggling with my timing after being out of the water for a while due to an injury. It’d been a while since I’d felt happy with how I raced, and I hadn’t ever been especially good at any stroke other than breastroke, so being able to start racing distance freestyle was very rewarding.
Anything else you want to tell parents about you as they bring their children to FOSS?
Swimming at FOSS is such a positive experience! All of the other instructors and I really love teaching kids how to swim and developing that love of being in the water. Swimming is a vital safety skill, so if there’s one activity I think all kids should learn how to do, it’s learning how to swim confidently.
