“She’s a natural,” Aimee Jackson, aquatics coordinator for the Plainview YMCA, exclaimed. Just a few minutes earlier, she had called Myla, a 4th grade student at Plainview North Elementary School, out of the pool to show her the arm motions for the breaststroke. She went on to explain, “the coordination of the leg kicks and arm strokes for the breaststroke is one of the hardest things to learn and she got it immediately.”
This is the second year for Plainview ISD to partner with the YMCA to provide water safety and swimming classes for fourth grade students. This partnership began with Dr. H. T. Sanchez, Superintendent of Plainview ISD, and Jeri Strange, Director of the YMCA, visiting about how the schools and the Y could strengthen their partnership in the community. As Plainview ISD does not have a pool, the pool at the Y came up as a possible opportunity to work together. Water safety became the natural link that allowed the school and the Y to partner together.
Jeri Strange and Yesenia Pardo, Assistant Superintendent of Educational Leadership with Plainview ISD, worked out the details to form a pilot program in which students from each elementary are transported to the YMCA one day a week for six weeks for 45 minutes of water safety and swim instruction. Instructors at the Y use curriculum from the Red Cross to teach water safety to the students. Each student is placed in a group from beginner to advanced and those groups learn at a level appropriate for their swimming ability. Fourth grade students from the three elementary campuses participate in the water safety class. This ensures that future generations of Plainview students will have a better understanding of the do’s and don’ts around water. Of this program, Dr. Sanchez states, “Partnerships between Plainview ISD and the YMCA build better programs and open doors for our students to exciting opportunities.”
Not all students are natural swimmers like Myla or Artemis, a 4th grade student at Plainview Central Elementary who spent a part of her time during the swimming program learning the butterfly stroke. There are a number of students who do not know how to swim when they begin the water safety and swimming program. Occasionally there are students who are even afraid of the water, having never been to a pool prior to the water safety and swimming course. Whether natural swimmers or dipping their toe in the water for the first time, each student has the opportunity to receive a certificate of completion at the end of the six-week course. The goal is for each student to understand how to be safe around water.
According to information from www.colinshope.org, approximately 87 children age seventeen and under died from accidental drowning in the state of Texas in 2023. One goal of the water safety and swimming program is to prevent drownings from happening altogether. “All of these drownings could have been prevented,” says Aimee Jackson. The safety lesson on this first day of class focused on swimming in pairs near a lifeguard’s chair. Other safety lessons focus on being aware of possible underwater hazards, how to help someone at risk of drowning, wearing life jackets, and being aware of the potential dangers around water. Water safety videos for younger children can be accessed on the Red Cross website: Water Safety for Kids | Red Cross.
Edward Trevino, an assistant principal at Central Elementary, sees benefits of the water safety course beyond the pool. “When we began the program last year, there was one student, very quiet and reserved, never really said much. After a few times of going to the Y, he really came out of his shell and showed a lot of confidence. He would make sure to get my attention so I could see what he was doing in the pool. I also noticed this back at school, as well. His demeanor became more outgoing and confident.” He has seen the same success this year, as well. “When we started this year, one of the first groups had a couple of students that were very afraid of the water. One parent reached out to let us know that the student had a lot of fear and asked us to handle them with care. The swim instructors at the Y really made both students feel safe. In no time, they were both just jumping in and there was no fear on their part. One of these students was even in the hamster wheel in the deep end of the pool on the last day we were there.”
Visit the YMCA website, Plainview YMCA - TheY. So Much More - Home, for more information about water safety and swimming classes. You can also find the Y on Facebook - YMCA | Facebook. For more pictures of students participating in the water safety class, go to (20+) Facebook.
