Coming soon
About meMy name is Alina Turk. I grew up in Germany and have lived in the States since 2007. Before the big move across the ocean I received my life guard certificate through the Deutsche Lebens Rettungs Gesellschaft (DLRG) and I have been in love with water in a whole new way ever since!
For a couple years I nannied full time, then part-time for several more while I started to study Human and Animal Behavioral Science. This allowed me to put theory in practice as well as getting tons of hands-on experience with many children in even more situations. Of course the kids where also more than happy to spend lots of time in the pool and learn to swim and about water safety, so I was very happy to get to share my love of the water. Content at the time with the water related impact I was able to provide, I focused my time left on my other passion, animal training, and got certified as a positive reinforcement animal trainer and human TagTeacher and opening my own business in the field, which you can find out more about at www.PawsitiveSkills.com. |
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In 2012 I married my husband and in late 2013 our daughter joined the family, which changed our life around in a way only other parents can imagine and is also when the seed for teaching survival swimming was planted. The next section details how exactly I got convinced to become a survival swim instructor, but the desire to become involved in drowning prevention in such a practical way, and that had such amazing positive 'side effects', grew at speeds only matched by our daughters development.
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Luckily my husband was very supportive of the cause and with it such somewhat drastic career change and I am able to start the intensive in-water training with 200+ hours of hands-on as well as further academic studies, in early 2015, just a little less than a year after our daughter introduces us to just how much of a difference such a career path could make!
Besides teaching water fun and safety and spending time with my family I like to enjoy the out doors, practice my photography skills, train animals, do martial arts and ballroom dancing.
How did I get involved in survival swimming?
As a nanny for many years I was fortunate to be able to observe several familiar children in survival swimming lessons and from the first, decided once I had kids I had to give them access to such a course as well. It was clear from the beginning just how valuable it would prove for their safety and confidence in and around water.
Fast forward a few years, my daughter completed her first skill set training this summer at 7 months. Below you can see her very first completely unassisted float! Please refer to the Video Gallery for others.
Fast forward a few years, my daughter completed her first skill set training this summer at 7 months. Below you can see her very first completely unassisted float! Please refer to the Video Gallery for others.
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Seeing my own daughter and the confidence and joy she has in the water while majorly increasing her safety, really grew my passion for becoming involved in such a program. And soon after she started, I was ready to devote my own career to it and look forward to help provide to many more families what has been provided for my daughter and subsequently our family.
My previous career path as a psychology major, as well as related experience as TagTeacher, Karen Pryor certified positive reinforcement animal trainer, nanny and mother, made me very familiar with behavioral science and the learning theory underlying this teaching style and my previous career has prepared me immensely by developing the excellent timing, observation skills and empathy, that makes me an excellent survival swim instructor. |
Conferences Attended
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Professional Achievements |
Professional Goals in Progress |
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Employment & Internship positions |
Service positions |
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Event Management Assistant and ASL interpreter for a Signing Time in Boise, ID
Puppy Club Leader and Trainer for Guide Dogs for the Blind in Boise, ID
Puppy Raiser for Guide Dogs for the Blind in Boise, ID
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2010-2011
2010 - 2014
2009 - 2014
2012- 2013
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