Mrs. Joelle Beard is not just a high school language arts teacher but a record breaking, extraordinary swimmer. Mrs. Beard grew her deep love for swimming in the ninth grade but has been competitively swimming since she was just 7 years old. Mrs. Beard was raised in a swimming family; her mother and each of her siblings also swam in high school. Over the years Mrs. Beard has done 8 total marathon swims and still continues to do a marathon swim each summer. The first swim Mrs. Beard ever did was one that most swimmers finish their career with. She swam the English Channel at age 24. Through the frigid waters between the South coast of England and the North coast of France, she swam 26 miles without stopping even after she had been stung by jellyfish. Mrs. Beard shared how her motivation for this was simply to prove she could accomplish her goals. She said, “ For me it was honestly just to prove everyone wrong.” Mrs. Beard felt that many people thought the furthest you could go in a swimming career was a high school scoreboard. She wanted to show that you can go beyond these expectations people have set for swimmers. Being a swimmer, especially a competitive one, takes a lot of mental power. On the website, Swimming World, it states, “The key to Unlocking your speed: A Positive Mindset.” One of the reasons Mrs. Beard swims is because it is her way of de-stressing and enjoying life. Adelaide Aquatic Centre shows that it is important for swimmers to be able to enjoy what they are doing to succeed. Mrs. Beard uses her experiences to inspire many young athletes while she coaches the swim teams here at Bear River, as well as in the private lessons she gives. One swim she has participated in is the Bear Lake crossing swim. Her completion of this particular swim inspired one of her students so much he wanted to try it himself. He reached out to Mrs. Beard after he had graduated and she was very pleased to know she had made such an important impact on his life. Mrs. Beard has overcome many obstacles in her swimming career, like being stung by a jellyfish and swimming in shark infested waters. Her longest swim was 20 hours non stop and the swim she is the most proud of accomplishing is the Triple Crown, which got her into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. She likes to remind her students of one important factor that has helped her succeed in life, she says, “Don’t let other people tell you your dreams are too big.” By, Autumn Henry My Image Information: Images are of Mrs. Beard swimming in (the image of her in the water with the sailboat) the English Channel on September 3rd 2012. The next image of her sitting on the boat is her after swimming for 20 hours straight between Molokai and Oahu in Hawaii on August 18th, 2021.
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