Betsy Bruce served Oberlin College for nearly two decades prior to retiring in December of 2016. During her time on campus, Bruce impacted the lives of so many who have traveled through the doors of the Philips Physical Education Center – young and old.
Bruce served the College in a variety of roles throughout her career as administrator, coach, and educator. Originally hired to be the school’s director of the recreation center, she quickly became the director of aquatics, intramurals, club sports, and oversaw the department’s physical education program.
Swimming has been a passion of Bruce’s throughout her life. One of the favorite aspects of her job was teaching hundreds of local youth children, college students and other adults how to swim and be safe in the water. It was that passion that was radiant to the Oberlin students who worked alongside her and to the participants of all ages that she was teaching.
“When we started the program, I immediately knew it was going to be important,” explained Bruce. “Before SplashZone, kids in Oberlin and the surrounding area didn’t have a lot of opportunities to swim and learn about aquatics safety. For the younger kids, they get to have the experience of a college-aged role model, while learning how to swim and how to jump off the high-dive. It was pretty cool!”
In July 2008, Betsy took on the role of director of club sports within the Division of Student Life. The program grew tremendously from 14 to up to 25 student organizations in eight years, while the Club Sport Council’s responsibilities were better defined, organized, and delegated.
Bruce provided the opportunity for growth within the club’s student leaders as they fundamentally performed the duties of varsity intercollegiate coaching staff would, ranging from player recruitment, scheduling, budget management and more.
“It was certainly challenging at times, but it was very rewarding to see the students acquire lifelong skills while making the club sports program thrive,” she said. “My hat is off to them for all they accomplished.”
