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Lifeguard Aubrey Mojesky gives 4-year-old Benjamin Wilson a swimming lesson at the William E. ¿Bunny¿ Davis Recreation Complex pool. (Joanna King/jking@amnews.com / June 25, 2012) |
Aubrey Mojesky, 19, is leaning toward a career in physical therapy as a junior at Centre College, but she’s not certain that’s what she wants to do.
Watching her patiently and purposely guiding a 4-year-old through a swimming lesson suggests she is gifted at just such an endeavour.
“There is a lot you can do with it, physical therapy,” she said poolside at the William E. “Bunny” Davis Recreation Complex last week.
She is one of eight lifeguards there and says she likes the job so much, this is her fourth year manning the tall station next to the pool.
Her job begins this sunny day in a private lesson with Benjamin Wilson of Danville. His mom, Amy, sits in the shade with Benjamin’s baby brother, Michael.
Benjamin does not like getting water in his face, Mom says. He’s the kind of kid that will lock up if pushed, but, somehow, Mojesky seems to know this.
Her tactic is to gently take him through the lesson without any pressure that might overstimulate his senses.
It works. Benjamin soon hops out of the pool and joins his mom with a big smile on his face, pretty pleased with himself.
“I’ve learned, with kids, it’s better if you don’t force them to do what they don’t like,” she said.
Climbing out of the pool, Mojesky appears to be comfortable in these surroundings.
Has she ever had to rescue a child?
“We do have to rescue a lot of kids,” she said. “It happens all the time, but you also have to be careful because you also don’t want to embarrass anybody. That may just be how they swim — like someone who is drowning.”
“Sometimes when I’m finished for the day, I do just swim laps for fun,” she said. “I didn’t swim on the team in high school or anything, but I did belong to a swim club.”
She is a graduate of Danville High and was on the tennis team there.
Mojesky’s mom is a nurse at University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center in Lexington, and her dad teaches chemistry at DHS. Although she has won the brainiac DNA lottery, she has other interests besides academics.
She likes to read, cook and paint. “Mostly oils. I have taken a few classes. I like to paint, but, you know, I don’t consider myself an artist or anything.”
She likes to dance too, she said and then laughed.
She has an older brother but he is not likely to become a dancer anytime soon.
“He’s in medical school and he’s not really much into dancing, but we were at a wedding together recently, and I got him out there on the dance floor. I don’t know if he enjoyed it as much as I did but, oh! It was silly!” she said.
As in “cat-daddy” silly, she said.
OK, what the heck is “cat-daddy?”
It’s a dance she learned and performed as part of a skit with her sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma.
“It’s this dance ... where you move your arms ... like you're in a wheelchair rolling your wheels,” she laughs and demonstrates and then laughs some more.
“You’ve got to be silly sometimes!”
