Episode 60 — Swimming Across The English Channel With Jeannie Zappe '87

The People of Penn State

Fancy a swim? How about a swim across the entire English Channel? 🤯🏊
On today's podcast, we chat with Jeannie Zappe '87, Speaker and Coach at Eternal Optimist LLC, and open water distance swimmer!
Jeannie's personal feats include swimming around Manhattan at 53, crossing the English Channel at 55, and joining the elite ranks of the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming at 56 by completing a Catalina Channel crossing.
A transformative speaker and eternal optimist, Jeannie has also excelled in leadership roles in higher education IT before pursuing her true calling as a swim coach in 2010. Harnessing her lifelong passion, she's coached young talents to elite national athletes and iron men/women.
Connect with Jeanne on Facebook and LinkedIn!
Watch the video version of our conversation with Jeannie on YouTube.
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Timestamps for our conversation with Jeannie:
0:00 — Intro
1:44 — Becoming a Penn Stater
7:45 — Initial career goal of being a swimming coach
9:20 — Ad Read - Alumni Association Membership
10:15 — What it was like to swim the English Channel
16:40 — The Triple Crown of open water swimming
23:45 — Techniques and strategies for distance swimming
33:05 — Jeanne's work with Eternal Optimist LLC
41:30 — Lightning Round Q&A

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