A group of grade 10 students at Lincoln School have continued our aquatics service learning initiative this school year. Despite being a landlocked country, drowning is one of the leading causes of death in Nepal after disease, suicide, and accidents. Our goal as a group is to teach local children some basic swimming skills such as floating on the back and front, recovering to a standing position after floating, treading water, basic water safety, water rescues, as well as some kicking and basic arm movements in the pool. The goal of this service learning project is not only to teach kids how to swim, but allow them be in a pool while having fun with friends, and improving their communication skills both with their peers and their assigned instructors. This helps develop new friendships and improves confidence levels.
Every Friday during advisory, a group of grade 10 students taught these skills and values to 17 kids from Paramount, while working under the guidance of Mr. Luke Davis and Mr. Yubraj Sunwar. This was an amazing opportunity for both parties involved as students from Paramount School got an opportunity they wouldn’t normally receive and, of course, students from Lincoln School had to develop their leadership and communication skills, with language being a barrier for some of our teachers. So far, the grade 10 swimming service project has been able to teach the students floating with an aid on both their front and back, as well as some basic kicking using aids with and without support from their coaches. They’ve also been successful in recovering objects from the bottom of the pool, completely immersing themselves in the water. We hope to continue to develop this program in future years at Lincoln School.
- Oshina B.
