My Career, My Passion:
I Really am a Rock Star.

By Crystal Simmons, Teen and Family Director
at the Floyd County YMCA

Not long ago in a meeting, I was asked to share what my childhood dream had been. I proudly stated that I had wanted to become a rock star. There were a few chuckles across the room, and then we quickly moved on to the next person. Later someone from the meeting came up to me and told me that she thought the fact that I wanted to become a rock star was hysterical. As I walked away I thought to myself, why was this so funny? Later on that night I kept thinking about the meeting and my childhood dreams. I knew that it was a silly dream, but when you are young, you think that the sky is the limit and nothing can hold you back. I then started thinking about the path that brought me to work for the YMCA of Southern Indiana and how I was so far off-track from Hollywood stardom.

I was 18 when my friend told me about this awesome job in which he got paid to play with kids. I knew at that point in my life I wanted to work with children. I just didn’t know in what sort of fashion. So I put a smile on my face, and an application in the mail to the Y. I had my interview out in the hallway and was hired on the spot. I couldn’t hold back the excitement but was also fearful for what was ahead. I was going to be a Site Director, which consisted of being in charge of a before- and after-school site. That wasn’t what I really signed up for, but I knew I was going to be working with children, so it didn’t really matter if I had some extra responsibilities.

As years went by I found myself loving my job. I had a slight change in positions when I became a Childcare Coordinator. This, of course, came with more responsibility, but again I really enjoyed what I was doing. Day in and day out I worked with children. We had summer camps, full day-out programs, and before- and after-school programs. It was getting to the point where I could name every child who walked through the door. Parents would come up to me out in public and say they recognized me through working with their child at the Y.

One day my friend (the one who had told me about the job at the Y) and I were at a grocery store and saw a child we knew from the Y. She yelled our names and ran down the aisle to give us a big hug. After she walked away, we started talking about how we are recognized everywhere we go. We jokingly said that the kids were like paparazzi and would jump out of nowhere.

Fast-forward to current day, and I’m still working at the Y but am now a Director. I pride myself in saying I work here and I still enjoy every minute of it. Although I don’t work directly with children as I once did, I still see them on a regular basis and still am recognized when I’m not at the Y. I like to think that even though I’m not a rock star, in some roundabout way I still have achieved my childhood dream: working with children and having them receive you with open arms, having them remember your name and activities you shared, and being remembered by them when you see them five years later when they have grown 2 feet. Even though I didn’t make it to the big screen, I still feel like I made it big.

So here is a question for you: Have you lost sight of your childhood dream? Take another look. You may actually be living it but in a different or less glamorous form.