GETTING STARTED … Pictured here at the Bryan YMCA are some of the second graders that had the wonderful opportunity to get swimming lessons as part of their school year at Hilltop Elementary. (PHOTOS BY REBECCA MILLER, STAFF)
By: Rebecca Miller
Approximately 40 second grade students boarded their school busses last week in West Unity, Ohio, full of anticipation, some fear and lots of excitement, and with their swim suits in their backpacks. They were headed for the YMCA in the neighboring town of Bryan, to participate in a pilot program which could save lives, besides bringing joy and laughter to the children.
Williams County YMCA Senior Program Director, Heather Jones, is also a West Unity School Board Member and her children attend school there, so when the Y was choosing what school to have as the pilot school, it was the natural place for her to turn. Elementary Principal Laurie Worline was thrilled with the idea, as she feels strongly about the need for everyone to know how to swim.
Worline shared at the September 16, 2019 School Board meeting that the four days were a great success. “It was a great experience for the children! You should have heard them every day when they got ready to load the busses to go! They were so excited,” she said.
In an email to the paper, Worline explained, “We are the first school in Williams County to take our second graders to the Bryan YMCA for swimming lessons. The Y is wanting to start a program to teach all students in Williams County how to swim so that we don’t have any accidental drownings in the county.” She also went on to say that according to the CDC, “Among those children aged 1-14, fatal drowning remains the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death behind motor vehicle crashes.” For this reason, Hilltop has partnered with the Y to pilot this program before they offer it to all schools in Williams County.
The Hilltop students got to go to their swim lessons on September 4,6,11 and 13 and Worline and Jones both commented on the difference they saw in the children, in just that short of a time. The students were at the Y from 12-2 and were split into two groups with one group in the pool for an hour while the others were doing activities in the gym. They switched places for the second hour. For grouping, the parents had filled out a survey and the children were grouped according to their ability. It worked really well. There were four instructors and the children were all well supervised and under great care and training for the entire time.
The Y was considering six days of lessons, but were able to do it in four. As they tweek the program, it may end up different, but for this pilot program, they felt it went well. Some of the children were still struggling at the end and so the YMCA is contacting the parents of those children with encouragement and recommendations of how they can get them to a better level of safety around water.
“Williams County is full of water,” Jones said. “There are swimming pools all over the place, ponds practically every mile and lakes nearby that make this a very important preventive measure.” She shared that they are already in contact with Bryan and Montpelier schools and they would love to do it with all the schools in the county.
Principal Worline also said, concerning the program, “It has been very exciting to see the growth in my students, not only in their swimming skills, but also in the students’ confidence level while in the pool. A couple students went from being fearful of the water to jumping in, treading water and swimming to the side of the pool. While others were swimming the length of the pool and jumping off the diving board. Hopefully they remember these lessons if they ever get into a dangerous situation.”
WET SMILES…. The smiles of these two second graders, Tessa Jones and Kendal Null from Hilltop Elementary School say it all…It was a great idea to start this program!
In an email, the Y stated, “The Williams County Family YMCA is pleased to have partnered with the Millcreek-West Unity School District (Hilltop) to run a pilot program providing swimming lessons to all 2 grade students. It is the Y’s goal, once our pilot project is complete, to offer this program to all schools in Williams County over the next couple of years.”
“At the Y, swimming is taught as a life skill. Our swim lessons prepare kids of all ages to stay safe and have fun in the water, building strong swimmers and confident kids. Though the Y is committed to teaching children to swim, there are still some very scary statistics out there: 1. Research has shown if children do not learn how to swim by the 3 grade, they may never learn how to swim. 2. Drowning is the 2 leading cause of death among children age 5-14. It is our goal at the Y to do our best to prevent both of these statistics from happening in Williams County.”
“Our goal is for each student to participate in learning safety and swimming skills to help them be prepared in case they face an emergency in the water. During their lessons, the kids learn and practice how to tread water, exit the water from the pool’s edge, swimming on their front and rolling into a back float, as well as jumping in, swimming away from the edge and returning to the wall.”
It continued, “There is also a large focus on safety around water, including never swimming alone, asking permission before entering the water, making sure an adult is always present, and when to ask for help. The Y is very excited to be able to partner with Hilltop to pilot this swim program. We thank Hilltop for their willingness to participate and help get this program off the ground for all of Williams County.”
Rebecca can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com