AUDREY KITCHEL
Audrey lived and raised her eight children in Lafayette, IN after graduating from Purdue in 1978. She and her husband moved to Port Orange, FL seven years ago to care for her parents who lived in a home with a large outdoor swimming pool. When Audrey’s daughter and grandson came to live with them, Infant Swim lessons were needed for little Samuel. The link to explore training on Infantswim.com caught Audrey’s eye and 3 months later she was certified as an instructor. “The most fun job I have ever had!” is how she describes her career of the past three years. Besides the obvious safety benefits, Audrey sees that giving young children swimming and self rescue skills imparts a confidence to them that spills over into every area of their lives. Known in Florida where she began teaching as “the swim grandma”, Audrey looks forward to serving young families in the Zionsville, IN and Lafayette, IN areas as well. EMILY SCHROEDER
I grew up in Fishers, Indiana and swimming has always been a huge part of my life. I remember living at the pool in the summers as a child, and not wanting to lose any attention to my sister, I mimic everything she did during her swim lessons. I went on to join Southeastern Swim Club and swam for the Royals until college where I competed for Denison University- Go Big Red! After working at a nonprofit for a 4 years and earning my Masters in Nonprofit Management, I stumbled across ISR while searching for lessons for a boy I was nannying. Upon further research and watching a few of Yiwen's lessons, I was hooked.
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YIWEN FUNG
Growing up in Texas, water activities were our first choice of fun especially in the summer. When I first saw a news story of ISR, I was still young and single. It left such a huge impression on me that I knew it was a gift my future children should have. After my daughter was born in California in '05, I searched high and low for the program. To my surprise, in a state known for swimming pools and beaches, there were no instructors. After moving to Indiana in 2006, I was fortunate to find Barb (the only instructor in Indiana at the time but since retired). During my daughter's lessons, my husband and I were amazed by her progress and skills she was able to accomplish. It was then that I realized it was such an important skill for all children and became certified as an ISR instructor the same year. As parents, we try to control as much as we can so that we can keep our little ones safe. Unfortunately, we are not able to control everything. Why not give our children the ability to take care of themselves when that "split second" of "something" happens. My younger daughter was born in 2010, and she was trained when she turned 7-months-old. I am always amazed watching the little babies roll over, float and rest. What a great experience it was to have Barb teach both of my girls the ISR skills. The bonus of completing ISR lessons for both of my children ... besides being competent and confident swimmers, they both love the sport for exercise and recreation. Both swim competitively. The younger one has also fallen in love with the sport of synchronized swimming. I love teaching children aquatic Self-Rescue (TM) skills. It has been and will continue to be the most rewarding work I do. There is no such thing as 'Drown-proofing' a child but drowning is preventable. ISR lessons is an added layer of protection when all the other layers fail. Why I Do What I Do...
Their safety and well-being means the world to me. Whoever says you can't buy back time is absolutely correct, but because they have these aquatic survival skills, we were able to buy them some time should they ever have a mishap. Swimming and floating is just a part of them. It's not a skill that they have to think about doing, it's just something that they do when they need it.
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ISR & Water Safety Information
If you are interested in learning more, please feel free to contact us. We are happy to come and speak to Mom's groups, doctor's offices, etc. to educate people about drowning prevention, water safety, and ISR lessons.
