By Dylan Pichnarcik Editorial Staff For FSU students and faculty alike, Saturdays are a day of rest, relaxation, or a time to catch up on work in preparation for another week. Amy Johnston, professor of environment, society, and sustainability uses her Saturdays to practice for the annual New England Masters swim meet at Harvard - which is a dive away in March. Johnston said she is originally from Maine and holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Bates College, a private college based in Lewiston, Maine. Johnston also has a twin sister who swam for the Bates College rival Bowdoin College, located in Brunswick, Maine. Her familial connection at Bowdoin allowed her to get a job coaching swim after she graduated from Bates, according to Johnston. “My sister's coach at Bowdoin was desperately searching for an assistant coach, and so she [Johnston’s sister] said, ‘Oh, Amy's free.’ And so that's how I got that job. … So I assistant coached at Bowdoin for two years - very different from what I'm doing now and everything, but I did enjoy it a lot, and kept up with my own swimming and stuff. “And then it was my second year, while I was coaching, that I started to look into grad schools. I enjoyed still being in Maine - I was close to my parents.” Along with coaching the team, Johnston also competed with the team. A U.S. Masters swim team member can be any person above the age of 18, according to Johnston. Johnston said she then applied to UMass Boston and was accepted into the graduate school of environmental science. While there, Johnston began swimming on her own, but shortly after “I found some undergrads who were really good but wanted to swim more regular practices, so we would all meet at lunch and swim together,” she said. Johnston said her group competed together while at UMass. Johnston said she was “sad” Framingham State did not have a pool - however, she does have access to a pool near her home in Milton where she practices with a U.S. Masters team three days a week. Outside of the pool, Johnston is not far from water, as an environmental scientist her studies took her to the Gulf of Maine as a paleoclimatologist. Paleoclimatology is the study of fossils as a way of determining the climate of Earth at a given time in history, she said. Johnston said her and her sister's inspiration for pursuing environmental sciences stems from her father’s career as a state geologist. “We used to go out in the field with him and tag along and do all that stuff. So that was really fun. Then growing up, we did a lot of outdoor things. My parents also both swim, so that's how I also got into swimming.” Anneli DiVirgilio, a student supplemental instructor (SI) who works with Johnston, said, “Dr. Johnston has an incredible passion for science and a genuine dedication to her students' success. Her enthusiasm for the subject makes her classes both engaging and informative, and she always takes the time to support students who need extra help. “I chose to serve as an SI for Dr. Johnston because I wanted to give back to a class that sparked my own interest and work with a professor I truly admire. I'm looking forward to working with her more closely as her SI this semester,” she added. Lawrence McKenna, chair of the Environment, Society, and Sustainability Department said, “Dr. Amy Johnston is the environmental science keystone of the department. In fact, she is the only member of the department with a terminal degree in environmental sciences. She teaches our only 300-level climate course [EASC 308 Climatology and the Future of Human Society], which includes the use of python-based climate modeling. Dr. Johnston is deeply involved in FSU’s RAMS steering committee, and will, by popular demand, be teaching not one but two sections of her awesome ‘10 Ways the Earth can Kill You’ RAMS class in Fall 2025.” McKenna said, “Dr. Johnston’s inexhaustible energy brings daily benefit to our department and University. She is, as one of her students told me, ‘smart and polite, all at once.’” When Johnston competes in March, it will be the first time she has competed since having her daughter. Johnston said, “I was pregnant last year, but right before I got pregnant, I did a half Iron Man triathlon. So that was probably my most recent event that I did two summers ago and that was my first half Iron Man. So I didn't really swim in meets that year leading up to it, because I was training pretty intensely to get ready for that. “You swim 1.2 miles in a river, and then you bike 54 miles, and it is all around surrounding towns, and then you run the 13.1 half marathon at the end. So it took me a long time, and that was why I was just constantly working out and getting ready for it,” she added. “I think my biggest piece of advice would be - and this could not necessarily just be for student-athletes - but sticking to almost a schedule, and holding yourself accountable to that schedule no matter what, when you're trying to get through a semester,” Johnston said.