Who is Ika Kovacikova, and why does she want to swim the English Channel?

Note from the Editor of this blog:

Ika Kovacikova, wrote to UVAC a couple days ago about her upcoming swim of the English Channel. Her last fundraising push is coming up, and she was hoping that we here at UVAC could spread the news!

Ika, is pretty well set in her fundraising goal for the overall swim, but she is still raising more money. Why you ask? Well, last summer she worked for the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and is looking to donate any additional proceeds she makes to them.

We here at UVAC are so very proud of Ika for making not only her dreams come true, but giving aid to those who really need it. It is a great reminder that one is able to make it through anything, and still liftothers up along the way.

So look out for Ika during her swim of the English Channel in August (2013), she will be the one in the UVAC cap (oh yeah)!  YOU GO GIRL!

-Heather Graham-
     Uvac Staff

P.S. Read more about Ika below, and visit her fundraising website and blog (links below)!

My name is Ika Kovacikova and I have been swimming with UVAC since the day the doors opened, and many years before that on NCAC. I am now a rising senior at Wellesley College in Wellesley, MA.

I was first inspired to swim the English Channel when I read the book "Swimming Across Antarctica" by Lynn Cox, and that was about when I was 10 years old. I thought she was truly incredible. I have been swimming since the age of six, but I never thought I was capable of "marathon swimming" even though I have always loved to swim. In 2012 I heard about how Mackenzie Bradley ('13) and Emma Reim ('13) of Smith College swam the English Channel and all of the sudden it seemed like a real possibility. I spoke with them about it and they definitely encouraged me to go for it, so I found a boat pilot through The Channel Swimming Association, and that was definitely the start of a big adventure!

I will be donating any extra funds I raise to the Center for Injury Research and Prevention in Philadelphia. During the summer of 2012 I was an REU intern at the Center for Injury Research and Prevention (CIRP) at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), which is supported by the National Science Foundation. I conducted research for the youth Violence Intervention Program (VIP) at the hospital.

The CHOP Violence Intervention Program (VIP) promotes a “trauma-informed” approach to helping patients who have been victims of nonfatal gunshot wounds, stabbings, or other physical assault injuries and admitted to CHOP’s emergency department or Trauma Unit. A trauma-informed approachconsiders how someone’s past experience affects his or her success in their clinical treatment. Since victims of interpersonal violence are 88 times more likely to retaliate or become re-injured after trauma, the overall program goal is to break the pattern of violence. The VIP provides ongoing social and emotional support for youth who were seen at CHOP, and evaluates how this trauma-informed approach promotes positive relationships between patients, health care and social services, and connects them with beneficial community-focused programs in their neighborhoods. I really learned a lot from my experience as part of the research team at CIRP. Swimming the English Channel in August of 2013 would be my way of giving back to the center, and would support efforts to prevent violence.

This summer, I am working in Chicago at Rush University Medical Center as a Health Disparities Research Fellow for Dr. David Ansell MD, MPH, author of County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital. I am helping Dr. Ansell with his second book about health disparities and health inequalities in urban centers. I definitely feel like my research this summer ties in with my work last summer, as we try to illuminate the reasons why some neighborhoods experience startlingly higher rates of cancer, diabetes, and violence (just a few examples) than others, which is true in Philadelphia as well as in Chicago, among many other large American cities.

Have a great day!
Ika Kovacikova
Wellesley College '14

Ika's Fundraising Website

Ika's Blog

Landing in a great spot - an intern's view of Upper Valley Aquatic Center

With a laptop and power cord in hand, I was directed to the office behind the large window of the competition pool.  What a cool place to work I thought – it’s always great to have a window in your office – something I had rarely experienced in the corporate world.  Returning to work after taking a hiatus in my career, I felt like I had landed in a great spot!  

My view!

Upper Valley Aquatic Center (UVAC) was not an unfamiliar place to me.  I had been there many times. I remember the first time I went to UVAC.  It was a snowy day when I drove my mini-van over.  It was like entering a new world – its warm water pool and lazy river pool were so welcoming!   My family was hooked and has been ever since.  From swim lessons, to friends’ birthday parties, UVAC has been a tropical refuge on a bitter winter day, a place where my kids took their first lessons and learned their first strokes, to now a place where I am learning lots.

Interning at UVAC has been a blast - Lisa who is teaching/guiding me and making sure that I am always learning, is a great mentor and has so much expertise in marketing, especially social media.  Lisa knows so much about Facebook, HootSuite and Yext to name a few.   I have been learning so many acronyms and terms from what an “organic” search result is to SEO and responsive versus mobile websites.

I have already done two email campaigns and worked on promoting their Red Cross Certification Program.   This is where the certified instructors can come right to your camp or facility and train your staff.  I was able to research camps in the area.  As a parent of two boys, I thought I knew about all the camps, but there are tons.  Another email campaign was to promote the World’s Largest Swim Lesson (WLSL).  

Fun at the World's Largest Swim Lesson

Catherine, who is in charge of the swimming lessons program, was instrumental is having the UVAC participate in the WLSL.  I created a press release – I think it was my first one in a decade.  It was great to write about such a good cause – the WLSL is a world-wide campaign to raise awareness that drowning is the 2nd leading cause of preventable death for kids ages 1-14.  At the same time it is a competition to break the Guinness World Record for the World’s Largest Swim Lesson.  Last year’s WLSL had 24,873 participants from 15 countries across 5 continents.

It felt great to promote something serious in a fun way.  On June 18th a few minutes before 11 am EST, Catherine rang the bell to get everyone’s attention.  Splash Camp kids got to participate too – can you imagine what they said at the dinner table that night– taking a swim lesson to break the Guinness World Record for the World’s Largest Swim Lesson –  not too shabby!!  We are still waiting to hear if the record was broken – we will keep you posted.

Who knows maybe in the future I will be working on promoting the free 14 day membership or figuing out how to get more families to know that there is free child care when taking classes – not to mention a Parent’s Night Out every month.  I am so lucky where I have landed!