09/01/2026
25 Years of Teaching Swim Lessons 💙
Summer 2027 will mark my TWENTY-FIFTH year teaching swim lessons! And honestly, I’m not sure I’ll ever have the words to fully express what this journey has meant to me.
I always loved the water as a very young child. As a teenager, I cooked up this idea that I would use our backyard pool in Irongate to teach children to swim. I never could have imagined what that little idea would turn into, but boy, was that young girl in store for an adventure. I started by putting flyers in neighbors’ mailboxes, placing advertisements in the newspaper, and hanging flyers wherever I could. There was no Facebook, texting, or Instagram. It meant calling my parents’ landline and talking to each individual mama, daddy, or grandma on the phone. 😂
And my poor neighbors… they were along for the ride too! People parking everywhere, screaming children, families coming and going, and literally people everywhere. The fun was just beginning!
I taught through high school, then went off to college in Alabama. I wasn’t able to teach the entire summer, but I would always come home for a few weeks to teach. After graduating college, I realized there was still such a need for swim instructors in Statesboro. There is so much water around us, and these children need to learn how to swim.
I vowed that as long as I was physically able, I would return year after year.
And I have.
That has meant teaching while newly pregnant, freshly postpartum, and VERY pregnant. 😂 It has meant squeezing lessons into every season of life and figuring out how to make it work.
The trust and good faith that Bulloch County has given me is something I will always be forever grateful for.
My parents eventually moved away, but that didn’t stop Bulloch County from helping me achieve my dream of helping children learn to swim. For the past 13 summers, I have been blessed with several host pools. These families have opened their hearts — and their homes — to me and my little swim lesson operation. They have a heart of gold, and without them, this simply would not be possible.
I could not have taught for this long without ALL OF YOU.
The kindness and generosity everyone has shown me brings me to tears.
And then there are the moments that make you realize just how full-circle this journey has been.
I have had the same babysitter — a girl I actually taught to swim! — watch my middle daughter for the last five summers. She blocks off time from her own schedule to help me and take care of Morgan.
This summer, I had both girls with me, and a woman who used to watch ME kept my baby.
My assistants over the years have been sweet children I once taught to swim.
And that, right there, is what this is all about.
Full circle.
I started as a young girl with a backyard pool and a crazy idea.
Twenty-five years later, I look around and see generations of children I have taught, families who have trusted me, friends who have supported me, host families who have welcomed me, and former swim students who have come back to help teach the next generation.
I can never, EVER say how grateful and thankful I am for all of you.
You have trusted me.�
You have nurtured me.�You have encouraged me.�And you have kept this dream alive, even through the toughest seasons.
From the very bottom of my heart…
Bulloch County, THANK YOU. 💙
Here’s to 25 years — and to every little swimmer who has made this adventure so incredibly special. 🏊♀️💦
SUMMER 2027 DATES:
JUNE 14-18-STATESBORO
JUNE 21-25-PORTAL
SIGN-UP- INFO-LATE SEPTEMBER-EARLY OCTOBER
