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Partly cloudy this evening followed by some light rain after midnight. Low 39F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%..
Partly cloudy this evening followed by some light rain after midnight. Low 39F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.
Updated: November 1, 2021 @ 8:33 pm
Members of the Monongalia County Commission, from left, Tom Bloom, Sean Sikora, Jeff Arnett, discuss the new Monongalia County Mini Swimmers Program, a collaboration between the commission, Board of Education, and Mylan Park.
County Commissioner Tom Bloom discusses the Monongalia County Mini Swimmers Program during Wednesday’s meeting of the Monongalia County Commission. Bloom has spent the last nine years attempting to get the program started.
Nancy Walker, president of the Monongalia County Board of Education, and Eddie Campbell, superintendent of Monongalia County Schools, both talked about the importance of youth swimming programs during Wednesday’s meeting of the Monongalia County Commission.
Members of the Monongalia County Commission, from left, Tom Bloom, Sean Sikora, Jeff Arnett, discuss the new Monongalia County Mini Swimmers Program, a collaboration between the commission, Board of Education, and Mylan Park.
County Commissioner Tom Bloom discusses the Monongalia County Mini Swimmers Program during Wednesday’s meeting of the Monongalia County Commission. Bloom has spent the last nine years attempting to get the program started.
Nancy Walker, president of the Monongalia County Board of Education, and Eddie Campbell, superintendent of Monongalia County Schools, both talked about the importance of youth swimming programs during Wednesday’s meeting of the Monongalia County Commission.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WV News) — Monongalia County Board of Education President Nancy Walker, after other speakers went through the technical details of the new deal, said the one word she hasn’t heard anyone say is “fun.”
“This is going to be fun,” Walker said. “This is going to be a nice, fun activity for students and families as we coordinate to work with this swimming program.”
The fun event Walker was referring to was announced during Wednesday’s meeting of the Monongalia County Commission: The Monongalia County Mini Swimmers Program, a collaboration between the commission, BOE, and Mylan Park. The program will promote water safety by giving free swimming lessons to every second grade student in the county — and their parents, if necessary — as well as educational field trips to the Aquatic Center at Mylan Park and learning materials distributed in the classrooms.
The commission approved $200,000 for the three-year pilot program, and an additional $100,000 for other Mylan Park programs. The funding comes from lodging taxes.
“The commission’s involvement in the aquatic track center was predicated on community involvement, and this is community involvement, so I wholeheartedly support this,” Sean Sikora, commission president, said.
Iterations of this program have been in the works for nearly a decade. Commissioner Tom Bloom said he first pitched this idea nine years ago to West Virginia University’s then-athletic director, Oliver Luck.
Ron Justice, of the Mylan Park Foundation, was present at the meeting and spoke of the effort involved in getting the program off the ground.
“We have all experienced the last year-and-a-half to two years; some things just don’t roll out as quickly given the circumstances, but we have continued to work on this,” Justice said. “The goal, which is a very lofty goal, was to try to give the opportunity at some point in time for every child in the school system here and homeschooling to be able to have the opportunity to learn to swim.”
Monongalia County Schools Superintendent Eddie Campbell stressed the importance of learning water safety at a young age, and that he was pleased to help facilitate that.
“What this really does is just enhances what we continue to do for this community and the youth of this community,” Campbell said. “Moving forward, you don’t want to hear about a tragedy happening. When you can teach water safety, that helps not just for their time today, but in future generations, as they grow up and graduate and move on and have their own family.”
Jennifer Lainhart, director of the 90,000-square-foot Aquatic Center facility, said that learning how to swim is one of the core principles the American Red Cross stresses that can prevent drowning.
“So growing up learning how to swim, and building a culture of swimming not only helps with that, it also helps with their ongoing fitness through their life,” Lainhart said. “Second grade is a good time — if a child does not learn before they’re nine, they are more likely to never learn how to swim. So it’s very important to get them early, and get those core skills.”
Lainhart noted that there are many activities to do at Mylan Park and the Aquatic Center, and getting children there early could help foster growth at the facility.
“There are some people still that maybe don’t have access or don’t think that they can afford access [to the Aquatic Center],” Lainhart said. “So, the field trips will provide a chance for students who maybe don’t already have access to the facility to have a free chance to come through their schools and enjoy the facility. We’re looking forward to serving the community with the program.”
Reach Chris Slater at [email protected], 304-887-6681, or follow @chris_slater on Twitter.
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