One of the most decorated female swimmers in history was in Garden City today to inspire students.

Katie Ledecky, 14-time Olympic medalist and best-selling author, spoke to over 250 Catholic middle and high school students at the Cradle of Aviation Museum. "I just try to give back to the community and share some of the things I've learned along my swimming career," says Ledecky.

Ledecky talked about her journey to becoming a gold medalist, including goal-setting, health and wellness and setbacks.

She even brought one of her gold medals from Paris.

"I realize that I'm not going to have my best training session every single day of every week. But on those bad days, if I can be a fun presence at the pool, I'm helping my teammates and in turn that's going to help me someday," says Ledecky.

Some of her goals are years away, like the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

For students, especially ones on swim teams, it meant a lot to hear how she balanced swimming and school growing up. "I think that part of it was really relatable to see how she's balancing things and it was nice to see that as an inspiration to how we can apply that to our lives," says student Mya Farrelly. "I really like how she sets goals and how she sets one that even scare her," says student Allie Hayes.

Ledecky told students you don't need to be an athlete to set goals.

She hopes her experiences and messages stick with them.

"They have so many different interests and probably play so many different sports but hopefully they could take a few things away from it that they can apply moving forward," says Ledecky.