Students learn the basics of scuba diving
March 12, 2014
By Claire Johnson
Diving tanks lined the side of the pool at The Lancaster Aquatic Center on Tuesday night for the sixth annual Discover SCUBA event. Discover SCUBA is part of the Aquatic Center’s “Discover Series,” which aims to expose students to what the center has to offer.
Diving instructors from the New Horizons Diving Center jumped into the pool first to test out the equipment, watched eagerly by 42 students.
Professional Association of Diving Instructors interns, along with Lavon Land, owner of New Horizons, spoke with the students about the foreign equipment they were about to encounter and what hand signals to use under water.
Students quickly filed along to the side of the pool and jumped in to get a first-hand experience with SCUBA diving.
Four students were paired with each instructor. Students learned the basics like securing their goggles and breathing through a regulator. Each head slowly went beneath the water and bubbles began to pop the surface as the students took their first breaths.
“College is all about trying new things,” instructor Ed Gabe said. “This is definitely one of those opportunities.”
Gabe said students feel a sense of weightlessness when they are underwater that is almost like being in outer space.
Mechanical engineering freshman Clay Harrison said that he would love to participate again.
“When we first went under water, I held my breath,” Harrison said. “But when I exhaled, I knew it was going to be great.”
Gray said that the Discover SCUBA event was created during a conversation with the instructor of the KHP 117 Scuba course offered at UK.
The instructor, Travis Land, sparked the idea of starting the SCUBA event with Letitia Hollingsworth-Gray, who has been the Aquatics Director for 10 years.
“We don’t want to call it a course,” Gray said. “We want to call it a series.”
The first Discover SCUBA event launched 4 years ago, Gray said, and the lesson quickly filled up.
The goal of Discover SCUBA is to make students interested in the other events in the Aquatic Center’s Discover Series.
“We want students to know that at the Aquatic Center, it’s not just about swimming laps,” Gray said. “We hope they can find something they can enjoy.”