This fall the Mission Graduates third and fourth grade classes at Bryant Elementary learned to swim! Every Thursday and Friday a class trekked out to Garfield Pool and jumped in the water for thirty minutes of swimming lessons.
It is always great to see kids learn new skills, and it was especially exciting to see them try something a bit scary and a lot of fun. At the beginning most students could barely propel themselves in the water, but after 10 weeks everyone could perform some version of the front crawl on their own. On the last day, the students in the highest level had enough skills and confidence to jump into the deep end, float to the surface, and swim to the side of the pool. Their huge smiles after facing their fears to perform such a feat were priceless. The excitement to go to swimming each week was contagious.
However, not everyone was excited at first. Marco, one of the third graders, was very afraid of the water and too scared to enter the pool. For the first few weeks he calmly watched from bench as his classmates began their lessons. Then, one week, he wanted to get in. Slowly, he built up enough confidence to blow bubbles, put his head under water, and eventually swim!
Through SwimClub everyone learned to be safe and comfortable and to have fun in the water!