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WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Andrea Butchko is back in her element.The 2009 Lake-Lehman graduate was a lifeguard in high school and college, before she moved to the New York City area after studying engineering at Syracuse University.Butchko has returned to Northeastern Pennsylvania, where she has taken on a role that hearkens back to her first job: She is the new aquatic director for the Wilkes-Barre Family YMCA.We sat down with Butchko last week to talk about her homecoming and her vision for her new role. Our interview has been lightly edited for space and clarity.Q: So, tell us your story. What did you do before coming to the YMCA?A: I&#8217;m originally from this area. I graduated from Lake-Lehman and then went to Syracuse, where I studied engineering.From there I went to New York City where I worked for Parsons Brinckerhoff as a geotechnical structural engineer, and I got to do some cool subway projects.From there I became a middle school math teacher in Jersey City, New Jersey. When I knew I was moving back home I started looking for jobs around this area and found this one.Q: What drew you back to the region?A: Family and relationships. My boyfriend&#8217;s from this area. It&#8217;s a great place to raise a family, settle down. We both wanted to be back here for that.Q: So, tell us about the new job. What does it encompass?A: As the aquatics director, it&#8217;s managing everything that happens at the pool, from swim lessons to the lifeguard certification classes that we do, setting the lap schedule to let people know when they can come in to swim.The swim team is starting up, so working with the swim team and the league and that sort of thing, to get connected with the other teams that we&#8217;re swimming against, making sure everyone is on schedule.And then just working with all the other directors at the Y, to see where our programs overlap, where we can include the wellness department, the membership department in all the things going on at the pool.Q: How big is the staff?A: We have our aquatics coordinator, Sam Reinhardt, who is in charge of a lot of the day-to-day stuff that goes on here, she does a fantastic job. I&#8217;m learning a lot from her. And then under her are the lifeguards and swim instructors.We have just about 30 on our staff, that&#8217;s lifeguards, swim instructors, water aerobics instructors. Some of them are seasonal availability &#8212; high school kids that can only work during the summer or after school, college kids that leave during the summer, so we have a lot of overlap.We have a really strong group of people here, of all ages, all levels of experience and we&#8217;re always looking to expand that.Q: Is it difficult finding lifeguards?A: There is a national lifeguard shortage. They really are needed and they&#8217;re a major part of all the programs that we do here.Anyone who is interested can send me an email, or they can go online. Even if they&#8217;re not certified we work with them on training, and there are some great incentives &#8212; if you work for us we work with you on the certification costs.Q: How did you get into lifeguarding?A: Lifeguarding was my first job when I was in high school and college, and it&#8217;s what brought me back here to take this position. I was a lifeguard at the JCC Day Camp out near Harveys Lake, and when I was at Syracuse I was a lifeguard and aquatics manager there. I&#8217;m just so passionate about it.Q: Who uses the pool here?A: It&#8217;s very broad. We have triathletes who come in to get their lap swim workouts for their upcoming races. We have a lot of seniors who come in, many who have arthritis and they can do the aqua aerobics, which is a lot easier on their joints.Lots of kids come in. We have kids that come in through our internal programs &#8212; our afterschool programs and our preschool programs &#8212; that we teach swim lessons to, and also just kids in the community who come after school for swim lessons &#8212; private, semi-private and group lessons.And then there&#8217;s families that come in, whether on a hot summer day or a cold winter day just want to get in the water, and it&#8217;s nice that we have an indoor pool and we can be open all season for that. It&#8217;s just a fun place.Q: When is the pool open?A: The pool&#8217;s open when the Y&#8217;s open. Under our regular schedule we always have three lap lanes available &#8212; no matter what other programs are going on, unless there&#8217;s a pool-wide special event &#8212; and the area of the other three lanes is available for family swim, swim lessons, water aerobics.Q: What is your vision for the pool and programs?A: Definitely making Wilkes-Barre Family YMCA aquatics a bigger part of the community, getting people involved.So the more staff we get on board the more programs we will be able to have &#8212; like a master swim program, indoor triathlons, expanding the swim team a little bit, different swim teams for older, active adults. So yes, lots of dreams and lots of things happening.* * *WANT TO LIFEGUARD?For more information about lifeguarding at the Wilkes-Barre Family YMCA, email andrea.butchko@wbymca.org, sam.reinhardt@wbymca,org, or visit https://wbymca.org/swimming/<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Andrea Butchko became a lifeguard when she was in high school, first working at the JCC Day Camp. Now, the Lake-Lehman graduate oversees a staff of about 30 at the Wilkes-Barre Family YMCA. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091219YMCA1-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Andrea Butchko became a lifeguard when she was in high school, first working at the JCC Day Camp. Now, the Lake-Lehman graduate oversees a staff of about 30 at the Wilkes-Barre Family YMCA. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091219YMCA2-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">&#8216;We have a really strong group of people here, of all ages, all levels of experience and we&#8217;re always looking to expand that,&#8217; said new Wilkes-Barre Family YMCA aquatic director Andrea Butchko, seen here. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091219YMCA2-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>&#8216;We have a really strong group of people here, of all ages, all levels of experience and we&#8217;re always looking to expand that,&#8217; said new Wilkes-Barre Family YMCA aquatic director Andrea Butchko, seen here. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Area native Butchko returns to region and to the water as aquatic director for WB YMCA</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Roger DuPuisrdupuis@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>WANT TO LIFEGUARD?For more information about lifeguarding at the Wilkes-Barre Family YMCA, email andrea.butchko@wbymca.org, sam.reinhardt@wbymca,org, or visit https://wbymca.org/swimming/</factboxMeta></div>

Area native Butchko returns to region as aquatic director for WB YMCA