Every year, the Safe Kids Tucson coalition partners with local elementary schools to teach over 700 second-grade students about the ABC's of water safety with the Water Safety is for YOU! curriculum. At the end of the semester, those 700 students convened at the City of Tucson's Edith Ball Aquatic Center to celebrate, explore and to review water safety with the partners of the Safe Kids Tucson coalition.
This year the YMCA of Southern Arizona approached TMC for Children, the lead organization in Safe Kids Tucson, with a proposal: Would TMC for Children sponsor a series of swim classes for second graders?
What a brilliant idea!
This year TMC for Children is sponsoring swim classes provided by the YMCA of Southern Arizona to Tucson second-graders for a registration fee of just $10.
On Monday I visited Kennedy Park Swimming Pool for the first day of class just to see how things were going, and they were going swimmingly.
Students went from sitting nervously on the edge of the pool,
to putting their faces in the water,
kicking up a storm,
to moving out into the water.
The students were beaming by the end of it.
Why second graders? Second graders are at the point where they are physiologically capable of developing strong muscle tone, they're still physically active, they can follow instructions, and they're fearless enough that pools can be a real hazard. The goal for these lessons is that by the end students can at least make their way to the edge of the pool successfully and so get out of trouble. Hopefully, they'll be swimming across the pool!
You can find out more about the Second-Grade Swim Class here. There is still space in the July session.
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