Elementary school students from Connor School received free swimming lessons at Gentile Hall for three weeks this semester, thanks to an aquatics class at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.
Contributed photo
Connor Elementary School students enjoyed being taught swimming lessons by UM-Presque Isle students enrolled in a water safety instructors course this semester. The lessons took place at the Gentile Hall indoor pool during the months of September and October.
Joyce Price, who is teaching the PHE 174 Water Safety Instructors course, usually has her students teach each other when she offers the course.
But this semester, a new idea came to her – why not match her university students up with some real kids so they could get some real, hands-on teaching time? All she needed was to find the elementary school students.
As luck would have it, the next day, someone from Connor School called Price up about another issue. Price asked if they were interested in her idea and they agreed to have their K-6 students take part in the classes.
Price’s six students spent three weeks between the end of September and October, two days a week, offering hour-long swimming lessons to a wide range of elementary school students at the Gentile Hall pool.
During any given lesson, you could find beginning swimmers practicing kicking techniques in the shallow end, intermediate swimmers practicing strokes, and more advanced swimmers working on their diving and rescue skills.
“This was a great opportunity for all the students who participated,” Price said. “My students had the chance to get some real water safety instruction and the Connor students will be able to use the skills they’ve learned next time they’re in the water.
“This class couldn’t have gone any better from an instructor’s standpoint and it was a lot of fun.”
