Meet Our Student Member Officer Pals
Splash Pals Adapted Aquatics has outstanding student member officers with a wide variety of backgrounds and leadership skills. We are here to assist you in every way possible and retain Lifeguards and CPR Certified individuals at all times to provide a fun AND safe environment.
Julia Grote
(President)
Julia was raised in South Florida and became scuba certified at a young age. She has a passion for the water and loves to spread her passions with others. Julia also has a love for traveling, spending 6 months traveling through New Zealand, Australia, and Thailand this past year. Julia is now a senior at UCF with plans to go to medical school to pursue a specialty in general surgery. She has volunteered with different groups that involve providing amazing opportunities for children and adults with physical and cognitive impairments. She became involved with Splash Pals when she was a sophomore and fell in love with the organization right away! Volunteering with Splash Pals has helped her form so many amazing relationships and provided her with unique hands-on experience. Julia’s favorite thing about volunteering with Splash Pals is watching how much fun the children have every week at the pool!
Holly Bertholf
(Vice President)
Holly is a Junior at the University of Central Florida with a Health Science Pre-Clinical major! She hopes to become a Physician Assistant to work in pediatrics, with a focus in Cardiology. To gain patient care experience, she recently got her state EMT certification and works for a private ambulance company in Orlando. She’s been a camp leader at Vacation Bible school at her church for many years and always gravitated towards the students with special needs.
Holly is also Vice President of a Sorority, where they raise money to support the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in hopes to find a cure. She is so excited to serve as Secretary for Splash Pals and believes that this organization will allow her to give back to the community.
Maggie LaFratta (Secretary)
Kimberly Lewis
(Treasurer)
Jess was born and raised in New Jersey and is currently a Junior at the University of Central Florida. She is studying Communication Sciences and Disorders and hopes to become a pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist. She is also minoring in Psychology. Jess is very passionate about helping others and working with children. She has been involved in Habitat for Humanity, the Boys and Girls Club, and has volunteered at elementary schools. Additionally, she has volunteered as a Teaching Assistant and shadow for a child with special needs at a religious school. Jess has also worked at a daycare, and as a summer camp counselor. She was so excited to hear about Splash Pals as she wanted to continue her volunteer work in Florida. She fell in love with Splash Pals at her first session in the spring of her sophomore year and is so excited to serve as Treasurer.
Cedric Roudebush (Outreach Coordinator)
Cedric was born and raised in Belgium and moved to Orlando when he started college. Soon after beginning college at UCF, he found that he had a passion for helping the special needs community and he got involved with many groups and agencies around the university, including Best Buddies, Inclusive Education Services (IES), UCF Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (CARD) and Providing Autism Links & Supports (PALS), and finally, Splash Pals. Cedric graduated with honors with a degree in biomedical sciences at UCF and is now getting ready to start medical school and continue with a career in medicine. His other passions include sports, traveling, and spending time with his family.
Easton Abt
(Best Pals Coordinator)
Easton Abt is a transfer student at UCF with a Health Sciences major. Easton loves playing sports and helping kids with disabilities. She was on a lot of sport teams in high school and was on the varsity rowing team at Ithaca College. Easton also volunteered at Parkland Buddy Sports, a nonprofit organization where she has helped kids with disabilities play sports! After hearing about Splash Pals, she knew that she wanted to join! Splash Pals is a great way to get exercise, hands-on experience, and having fun! She loves coming to the pool sessions to see smiles on people’s faces!
Sam Totty
(Social Chair)
Samantha Totty was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama! She is a senior at the University of Central Florida. She is a psychology major with a cognitive sciences minor. Samantha hopes to follow her passion for helping others and become a clinical psychologist. When she first heard about Splash Pals, she knew it would be a perfect fit for her. Her favorite thing about Splash Pals is working with the children and watching them learn new skills.