Student Spotlight: Brianna Almasan

Student Spotlight: Brianna Almasan
Brianna is a three and a half year old dynamo. She entered the swim school last July with a pretty
serious attitude about the importance of swim lessons. They did NOT belong in her world~! Lucky
for Brianna, mom was as committed as she was.
Here is mom's version:
Brianna's first class was terrifying... for her and her mom.
She screamed the entire 30 minutes and latched on to the
instructor's neck. She did not let go. She just panicked.
Before I signed Brianna up for the class, I was advised that
we should commit to at least 8 weeks, because usually in
that time frame, kids that are not comfortable in the water
have an opportunity to overcome their fears. Trusting the
experience and reputation of Hubbard, I figured the worst
thing that could happen is that she would continue to scream
or, who knows, she might start letting go of her fear and learn to swim.
During her second class, Brianna started the same, by
screaming and not wanting to get her hair wet. Then,
Kathy took her from the class with the other three kids
and spent one on one time with her. For the third and
fourth class, Kathy patiently built Brianna's confidence
to the point that she was able to be in class with the
other three kids and to follow instructions.
After that, slowly, Brianna started to love her swimming
classes and being in the water. She would come home
and practice with her grandma in the pool. Brianna still loves her swimming classes a lot. She has
her classes every Saturday. Every Sunday morning she is asking if it's time to go to class again.
Then every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning she asks again.
As a family, we love to go on vacations by the water. We've been to Hawaii and San Diego and just
stayed home by the pool. Brianna had a great time playing in the sand on the beach.
Brianna loves to play with Legos and blocks. She builds large castles, where she 'lives happily ever
after' with her mom, dad, her dog BJ, grandma, aunts and uncles. She also enjoys putting puzzles
together. One of her favorite activities is playing dress up as princesses with her girlfriends.
Like any three-year-old, Brianna would like to be many things when she grows up. Depending on
the day, she would like to be a mommy (with at least 3 babies), a doctor, a real estate agent (like
her mom) or Cinderella.