SPLASH SELBO making a SPLASH

MEET the WOMAN LEADING the WAY in the Y’S NEW STATE-OF-THE-ART AQUATIC CENTER

Words by Kristin Miller, Mar keting Coordinator, YMCA of Cass and Clay Counties

Photography by Dennis Krull, 5foot20 Design Lounge

There’s a renewed energy in the air at the downtown Fercho YMCA.

The Y’s newest addition is hard to miss: a $5.9 million aquatic center overlooking Island Park. The space includes a six-lane lap pool, warm water pool, and zero-depth kids’ pool, and was completed in early April. Programs are up and running in the new facility, and the pools have been filled with families, lap swimmers, the FM Gator Swim Team and scores of swimming lesson students and group fitness participants.

Aquatics programs at the Y have remained strong during the yearlong pool construction shutdown due in large part to the efforts of one woman.

Britt Selbo, aquatics director at the YMCA of Cass and Clay Counties, has had a big job overseeing all the changes, but says she’s excited for what the facility will bring to the FargoMoorhead area.

“My favorite part about the Y is its commitment to bettering our community,” Selbo says, adding that she’s looking forward to seeing members and guests discover everything the new facility has to offer.

Selbo has worked at the Y in several capacities, including as an FM Gator Swim Team coach when she was in high school, the Y’s financial development coordinator, and now the aquatics director at both the Y and their partner facility, Family Wellness, since 2011.

In her current role, she took the lead in keeping the Y’s aquatics programs on track during the construction of the new pools. Selbo was responsible for managing aquatics activities for Y members at several off-site pools throughout the area, and says the support from the community has been outstanding.

“It was great to work with so many community groups, and many great relationships were built,” she explains, though admits it was a relief to finally have the department’s “home base” back at the Y.

Relationships have been at the core of Selbo’s years at the Y, beginning all the way back when she was a baby.

“I really grew up at the Y,” she explains, adding that she and her brothers were involved in swimming lessons from the time they were old enough to swim, and later competed on the FM Gator Swim Team.

Her history with the Y doesn’t stop there. Selbo’s parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents have also been very involved in the Y. Members of the Selbo family have served on the board of directors, worked with various committees, and stayed faithful members for decades.

“My mother is here almost every day,” Selbo says. “She’s very much looking forward to getting back to her routine in the new pool!”

As the aquatics director, Selbo has the opportunity to expand relationships between staff, Y members and the community.

“The most rewarding part of my job is seeing staff grow,” she says, adding that many of her staff come in during their high school years as lifeguards or swim instructors and leave with the values they learned during their time at the Y.

“To teach a young high school student to be personable and responsible is great!” she says.

“When our staff move on to their first ‘big kid job,’ I love to hear their professionalism and hard work comes from their time at the Y.”

Selbo oversees more than 80 staff, and says that they have been at the core of keeping the aquatics department successful during the last year while not having a pool.

“Absolutely none of the changes would have worked this past year without an amazing staff,” Selbo says. “Every aquatics employee rolled with the changes that were thrown at them with professionalism and a great attitude. They really represented the Y well!”

Selbo is also supported by three full-time staff, including two aquatics coordinators and an FM Gators head coach, all of whom, she says, “have done an amazing job during this construction time adapting and adjusting.”

For all of her hard work during the construction phase, and for the aquatics programs she’s helped implement during her time at the Y, Selbo was recently honored with a Program Achievement of the Year Award. Award recipients were chosen out of nominees from Y’s across North Dakota and South Dakota, and are recognized for excellence in program development and leadership.

Now that the Y’s pools are officially open, Selbo is excited for the opportunities that will be made possible by the new facility, for both Y members and the community as a whole.

“I think with the new pools we look forward to bringing people back to the Y,” she says. “With the zero-depth pool especially, we expect to see many more families coming in to enjoy the water year-round.”

More than anything, Selbo emphasizes the importance of the Y’s values in her day-today work.

“In every decision-making discussion I have been a part of at the Y, it is always asked, ‘What is best for our community?’ The programs the Y offers to help members of our community are amazing.” [AW]

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