APOLLO BEACH, Fla. — Mia Balacco spent the summer helping kids learn how to sail. She’s the lead instructor at the Tampa Sailing Squadron Youth Sailing camp. She attended the camp when she was seven years old and always wanted to become an instructor. 

“I love working with kids. It’s one of my favorite things and then adding sailing into it which is one of my hobbies and one of my loves — it just makes it 10 times better,” said Balacco.

She started as an assistant and has been the lead instructor for two years. She says she loves helping kids learn skills she learned as a child.

“We want kids to be able to be comfortable in the water and learn how to not only work with others but how to learn more about themselves and what they can do,” said Balacco.

Throughout the camp, kids learn all about sailing from rigging their boats to controlling them in the water. Balacco also teaches them how to solve problems they may encounter in the water, like flipping their boat.

“It’s one of the best feelings when you can help them learn and help them realize that they can do it,” said Balacco.

She’s helping them build confidence and perfect their sailing skills.

“My favorite part about teaching is giving my passion to all these kids and hoping that one day one of them will take my job when I’m out in the real world,” said Balacco.

Balacco is studying to get her bachelor’s degree. She plans to become a pediatric speech pathologist.