As you’re standing on the deck of the Stoughton High School pool, the smell of chlorine fills your nose as you stare at the rolling blue waves. Before you are people of all ages and backgrounds, using the pool. The SHS pool is more than a high school pool; it’s a community resource. But have you ever wondered who’s working behind the scenes? For the past 11 months, this has been Pool Director Dan Neely.
Neely’s responsibilities include overseeing the lifeguards, facilitating the water exercise group that comes to the pool several times a week, and general upkeep tasks. Alongside these duties, Neely also coaches the boys swim team at SHS.
“[My job] entails […] making sure people are safe [and] making sure people are having fun,” Neely said. Previously, Neely had worked as a vegetable farmer and an organic food inspector.
“I needed a break from all [that], so I thought that playing around in the high school would be a good idea. So, I started coaching. The [pool director] position opened up and seemed like a fun opportunity,” Neely said.
As a public space, the SHS pool hosts people of all ages, ranging from babies and parents at swim lessons to grandparents attending the water exercise group. Being the pool’s director, Neely gets to interact with them all.
“[My] favorite part of the job is the people,” Neely said. “I’m a people person.”
At the end of the work day, Neely heads back to the agricultural scene.
“I live on a farm outside of town,” Neely said. At this farm, he lives with his partner, Sara, and their two “ferocious guard cats” Biscuit and Bergamot. He also stated that he has a large extended family and lots of friends.
“I really love to cook [and] I really love to make music,” Neely said about his hobbies. “So I spend a fair amount of my time eating and cooking, [and] listening and playing music.”
He later said that while mostly playing guitar, he can also play the drums and the piano.
Aside from being a chef and musician, Neely is also something of a philosopher.
“We’re all in it together,” Neely said. “This idea that we’re all in this school, this building—literally. Or just, y’know, in this town, this state, this country, this planet, together.”