Life Outside the Classroom
By Jessica Steen
Originally from Merriam, Kansas, the now Minneapolis resident currently teaches Geography here at Anoka Ramsey Community College and Synchronized swimming at the University of Minnesota. Three years ago, Downey relocated from Lawrence, Kansas where she was in school at the University of Kansas, to Minneapolis to work on her Ph. D. at the University of Minnesota. She soon discovered that teaching was what she wanted to do in life. "I first taught as a Graduate Teaching Assistant during my Master's Program at the University of Kansas and immediately loved it" says Downey. "Teaching offers me the opportunity to share my passion with others. I love being able to interest people in the world around them and offer insights (however small) into how the world works." Along with all of her schooling here in the states, she also got to travel to Queensland, Australia to study abroad for five months.
During her sophomore year as an undergraduate student, Downey realized then that she wanted to major in Geography. She tells us "at the time I was majoring in Journalism but taking a number of Geography classes and they just resonated with me more" Adding to that statement, she laughs as she says the once popular television show and game "Where in the world is Carmen San Diego" was very big when she was younger, and jokingly says shes convinced that a number of her fellow classmates in Geography got into that field as well as a result of that program.
After her discovery of teaching, coaching soon became apart of her life too. Downey has been coaching synchronized swimming for about last 12 years, starting with the Kansas City Sea Sprites, which is an age group program back in Kansas, and now is the head coach of the U. of M.'s synchronized swim team. Water sports are her strength a long with the rest of her family. "My mom is a big fan of the water so she got my brother and I in the pool at a very young age" says Downey, "Apparently I was jumping off the 3 meter diving board by myself at the age of three, and joined the Merriam Dolphins at age five. At 12 I started sychronized swimming with the K.C. Sea Sprites".
Twleve years later, Swimming is still a hobby for Downey as she continues to coach. "It's a time-consuming sport but also an intersting one which is probably why I've kept with it for so long" says Downey. Keeping busy with her swimmers, ranging in age from the Freshman to Senior classes, she enjoys being around a young, refreshing crowd. During the season which begins in September and ends in March, practice is held three times a week resulting in eight hours at the poolside. Along with serving time at the pool with her swimmers and keeping orderly with parents and traveling for meets, she still serves fifteen hours of class time alone, not including the excess time she takes to prepare lectures for two new additional classes she has taken on in the semester. "Im not exactly sure how many hours exactly that all boils down to" says Downey, "but suffice it to say that I stay pretty busy between synchro and school!"
Oh, I love swimming. Great feature. It is great to learn about the interesting people around us.
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