The Second Grade Swim Lesson program begins today at the Hermiston Family Aquatic Center and will continue for the next two weeks with more than 350 students participating.
Hermiston Parks & Recreation provides introductory swim lessons for all second-grade students in Hermiston School District’s six elementary schools to start the outdoor swim season. The Echo School District will also participate in the program for the first time this year with second and fifth graders.
An informational survey was collected from parents and guardians to determine appropriate skill-level placement for each student. Students are taught by Hermiston Family Aquatic Center swim instructors and elementary PE teachers. Each student will go through a two-hour swim lesson course of self-rescue skills such as bobs to safety, float/flip and swim (water survival skills), drowning prevention information, lifejacket fitting, land-based activities to prepare for the water. Each student will also learn the ability to jump off the diving board with a lifeguard present.
Those attending with higher swimming skills will focus on stroke lessons and breathing techniques in addition to the skills listed above. The Echo fifth graders will also participate in an advanced self-rescue lesson wearing street clothing to better understand the steps to take if they were to find themselves in a sudden fall into deep water with full clothing on.
Each student receives additional take-home information on how to stay safe in the water and a water skill assessment from the instructor detailing each student’s drowning risk.
In previous years, based on the assessments, 88% of Hermiston students were at a high-risk level of drowning in calm waters. This information is important as drowning is the leading cause of death in children ages 1-4 and the second leading cause of unintentional injury death in children ages 5-14, according to data from the CDC.
“Starting our summer season with these elementary swim lessons is not only a lot of fun, but it teaches students valuable skills and helps them understand the potential danger of getting into water they’re not prepared for,” said Brandon Artz, Hermiston Parks & Recreation director. “Our lifeguards and staff enjoy the opportunity to teach the students and educate their families to make sure they stay safe.”
The Hermiston Drowning Prevention Program provides water safety and drowning risk information to the community. The program also provides Coast Guard-approved lifejackets to those in need to stay safe in our surrounding waters. These lifejackets are available for loan at the Hermiston Family Aquatic Center where they also offer a pre-trip lifejacket safety check. You can donate to the Hermiston Drowning Prevention program to help provide these materials by contacting Hermiston Parks & Recreation or the Hermiston Family Aquatic Center.
The Hermiston Kiwanis Club provides goggles to each student and supports the mission to provide swim lessons to as many students as possible.
Lessons are 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. each day.
For more information, call Artz at (541) 667-5018.
I think Hermiston parks does a great job with all they do for everyone in the community and keeping up our city parks alway look great. A Major problem tho is now every park is over run by the homeless. I never see anyone at most of the parks with their children because of the homeless growing population overtaking our parks. ???? Cant something be done about this ? God only knows we are taxed more than enough to keep our city looking nice it would be nice for us tax payers to enjoy them.