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Seema Dhaher

• Psychology Major
• Junior
• Aquatics Lifeguard / Aquatics Supervisor / Safety Lead / CPR / AED FA Instructor / Student RecWell Council President

Seema Dhaher works in Aquatics within Recreation and Wellness Services (RecWell) at the Student Recreation and Wellness Center (SRWC). She currently serves as the President of Student RecWell Council (SRC) after holding the role of Treasurer last year. She said she loves her job as a leader, but still enjoys her role as a lifeguard so much. “I'm currently in Aquatics and I've been working here at the Student Recreation and Wellness Center (SRWC) for two years now. I began as a lifeguard, then became a lifeguard supervisor, and then I also was the treasurer [of SRC] last year and then and now I’m the President. I teach most of the CPR classes, that's my favorite thing to do.” Seema said.

Seema came to 5X���� with very little idea of what she wanted to do. After branching out a bit, she found both her job at the SRWC and her major, Psychology. “Well, I didn't know what I wanted to study when I was younger, I took a Psychology class, one of my first classes in college and I really liked it. The material itself felt like something I would love to just read on my own. So that's how I knew.”

Seema swam as a kid at the SRWC and was looking for an on-campus job. She ultimately decided lifeguarding would be the best fit. “I had a twin sister who got a job here. I did lessons here as a child and swimming was my favorite thing to do. Then I trained for lifeguarding.”

Seema said one of her favorite things about the SRWC is how convenient it is to work there as a student. She likes the professional and personal benefits she gets. “It’s an extremely nice job to have as a student. There's more benefits than you know, like getting paid and as a student. There's a lot of professional development that you will participate in a lot. There's just a lot of learning all around. You're using these leadership positions and everything that I'm given here that can benefit me in my career.”

Seema said she was confident about the skills she gained from working at the SRWC . She said a lot of the skills weren't immediately applicable, but that she had learned soft skills instead. “There's a lot of things here like the opportunity to work with people, therefore, I'm getting the opportunity to work on my skills, such as my communication skills. Having an idea and then communicating the idea in a concise way or in a more clear way is something that I have learned in RecWell. For example, how to speak, how to facilitate your own ideas in a clear way, I think that's like the number one thing I've done really well at."

Seema’s leadership role allows her to work with professional administrative staff in RecWell. She said the professional staff were extremely helpful as a resource. “All the professional staff help me. I have a lot of great ideas, but I don’t know how to say them in professional terms, so the admin., they meet me on my level and can hear me talk as a person. They’re also helping me learn how to speak more professionally.”

Seema said she wants to go to graduate school in the future, but for now, she really enjoys her role! “I’m grateful for the opportunity to work here. There’s a lot I have gained from  working here. It has put me in a place that is much farther and higher in my academics than I could have ever imagined.” Seema said.