Jenna Wild

When senior Jenna Wild went to her friend’s swim lesson in third grade, she didn’t expect that nearly ten years later she would be one of ETHS’ strongest swimmers and committed to play at Brandeis University—but that’s exactly what happened. 

“I started swimming when I was in third grade; a friend had a swim lesson and she just brought me to it. It was at the YWCA, and I really liked it there specifically, so I just kept swimming,” Wild explains. “And then I decided to swim through high school, and I’ve just been doing it for so long that I couldn’t really imagine myself not swimming in college.”

However, Wild’s time at ETHS hasn’t been without its challenges. COVID-19 threw everything off for the team, and, in turn, she wasn’t performing to her full potential this past season.

“It was a little bit hard over COVID and everything when we weren’t able to practice,” Wild elaborates. “All our times were a bit slower than we wanted them, so it’s hard to keep going through that, when we’d been so used to not having to swim, having to get back into it was definitely a challenge.”

Yet, despite all these difficulties, Wild still managed to make it to Sectionals for the third time in her high school career. Now, going into the next four years of her life, Wild has a lot to look forward to with plans to major in biochemistry and a supportive team waiting for her.

“In October, I went for a recruiting visit, and I got to stay overnight. I [saw] how close the team was, and it just seemed like a really nice team environment,” Wild reflects. “And that’s what I was more looking for, rather than like a super fast team, because I’m okay with where I’m at right now, in regards to my times. So, I wanted to surround myself with a nice team.”

But, there was one thing that especially spiked Wild’s interest: the coach.

“I’m looking forward to having a female coach. I’ve never had a female head coach as just the coach, ever. So I think that’ll be fun,” Wild concludes, “and it’ll be a nice change.”