Abby: Science and Swimming

by Amber Erickson Gabbey

When 17-year-old Abby started swimming competitively five years ago, she didn’t realize it would become such a large part of her life. As a self-described uncoordinated teenager, Abby started swimming as a way to challenge herself and fulfill personal goals. It soon became a passion, both as a personal challenge and as a team activity.

Abby’s main swim strokes are the butterfly and individual medley. She also competes in other events at meets, but much of her training and energy focus on the primary strokes. Part of the reason Abby enjoys swimming is because you get to work independently at times with all the pressure on you, but in relays, you get to work as a team, each relying on each other to perform well. Abby has had success as a high school swimmer, and even earned a medal at the Central California Junior Olympics Championships.

As a junior in high school, Abby’s life is busy with balancing swimming, school, and preparing for college. She gets up really early to fit it all in, but doesn’t complain about it. She is serious about academics and swimming, and she is willing to make sacrifices to achieve her goals.

Every morning, Abby gets up early to do homework before school starts, because she just doesn't have the energy to focus on it after swim practice in the evenings. She then goes to school all day. Abby’s favorite school subjects are science and math. It’s the puzzles that get her going; she enjoys solving problems. She gets excited about the solutions to small problems because they apply to larger problems. After school, she has swim practice, which can be intense. The team alternates swimming sets of their primary strokes with doing cardio on dry land as cross-training. By the time Abby gets home and has dinner, it’s nearly time for bed. It’s a hectic schedule, but Abby enjoys every part of it, and knows working hard now will help her meet her future goals.

After high school, Abby plans to attend college somewhere on the East coast—possibly Wellesley, Smith, or Sarah Lawrence. A human rights advocate herself, Sarah is drawn to the women’s schools because she likes seeing women in leadership positions and would fit into that culture. She also is attracted to the school’s Division III athletics, so she could swim without athletics being the focus of her time there.

Abby plans to study science—biology or biochemistry—with the goal of possibly going on to medical school. Abby really enjoys human biology and loves learning about physiology and endocrinology. She wants to work in medicine, but isn’t sure about being a doctor or other client-focused professional. She feels she might be better suited to working in a lab or behind the scenes as a scientist or researcher.

After going away for a couple years and gaining independence, she wants to go back home to California for graduate school to be closer to her moms and her younger sister, Jenna.

In her spare time, Abby is part of the Family Equality Council’s Outspoken Generation program, which empowers youth with LGBT parents to speak out about their families. Abby enjoys sharing her story publicly and being an advocate for other families like hers because many kids can’t or won’t speak out. She is confident in herself and her family, and she takes great pride in serving as a role model to other youth.

Outside of school, swimming, planning for college, and advocating for equality, Abby is also an avid reader. She enjoys reading science fiction (but not “crappy teen fiction”) and autobiographies. She almost always reads a book more than once. The first read is all about the story. The second or third time goes beyond the story into the finer points of the characters, plot, and timeline. It’s no surprise that she has read each Harry Potter book nearly ten times.

From swimming, to school, to her future career, Abby approaches everything she does with dedication, discipline, and determination. She is willing to put in the work to meet her personal goals so that her contributions can affect the world.