3 minute read
Splash Dayz Employee Spotlight
by cityofws
The 2024 Splash Dayz Water Park season is coming to a close and this year Splash Dayz management would like to spotlight Ki Rendon, a Lifeguard Lead at the park. The 2024 season was Ki’s third working at Splash Dayz. Her journey as a water park employee took her from being in the shadow program learning the ropes all the way to a Lifeguard Lead.
“Ki has a lot of natural skills,” Splash Dayz Manager, Braden Dill said. “She’s very empathetic and is great at helping coworkers and customers.”
Customer service is a big part of the job in the water park industry, and Ki enjoys being able to help visitors to the water park by using active listening.
“People want to know they are being heard,” Ki said as she spoke about her approach to customer service.
Being on the front line of dealing with customers and coworkers alike wasn’t immediately the path that Braden saw Ki taking as a Splash Dayz employee.
“She was a lot more timid when she started,” Braden said. “It’s been great seeing her confidence and leadership grow over the years.”
Ki agrees that working at the park helped bring her out of her shell. Some of her favorite memories at Splash Dayz are working during the busy Summer Celebration event each summer, getting to work outside, and meeting so many people.
“You make so many good friends working here,” Ki said.
Working in the summer heat isn’t for everyone, but for Ki it’s second nature. As an accomplished Cross Country and Track runner, she had no trouble acclimating to being in the heat. During her time at Brewer High School, Ki’s list of athletic accomplishments grew year after year. Great results led her to district, and eventually to state meets and beyond.
Ki’s athletic prowess won her medals, led to opportunities to run at out of state events, and gained her attention from many notable college athletics programs. Amidst all of the accomplishments and accolades, Ki says that perhaps the biggest highlight is the people.
“Cross country is like a huge family,” Ki said. “That’s what sports is for me, it’s a huge family.”
Ki will be continuing her athletic pursuits as she is starting at the University of Texas at Austin this fall. She leaves Brewer High School as the fastest and highest-placing runner in school history in both Cross Country and Track & Field. She’ll be focusing her studies on biology and continuing her pursuit of running.
As for any local high schoolers looking to work at Splash Dayz, Ki shared some advice.
“Be yourself. Put yourself out there and do the work,” Ki said. “It’s a great place to work.”
For the park-goers and other Splash Dayz employees, you may not have seen the last of Ki. She’s not positive what her plans are for next summer, but she hasn’t ruled out a return to working at Splash Dayz between semesters in 2025. Whatever her future may hold, we know it will be bright and successful. Thank you for your three seasons of service, Ki, we can’t wait to see what you accomplish next!
