The Nexus

Tim Chu
Abigail Palin (12) breathes through the oxygen tank during a scuba diving session. Provided by Ocean Enterprises, discounted classes will be available for Westview students.

Ocean Enterprises, a scuba diving company, coached Westview’s aerobics classes on the basics of scuba diving Sept. 18 and Sept. 25.

The introductory one period course called Discovery Scuba, was held again during the aerobics classes this year after Ocean Enterprises introduced students to scuba diving last May. During their class period, the aerobics students were taught how to breathe under water with the air tank strapped to their backs and practiced swimming with it in the shallow end.

According to Trish Keefer, Director of Marketing at Ocean Enterprises, the turn-out of almost 120 students last year was so great that with the agreement of Aerobics and ENS teacher Marina Henry, they decided to hold Discovery Scuba again.

Henry said that the main point of Discovery Scuba is to introduce students to scuba diving and allow them to get a feel for it to see if they’d like to pursue it further.

“Some people absolutely love it, some people don’t,” she said. “That’s what it’s about, figuring out if you really love it or not and if you would like to pursue it longer. That’s pretty much the philosophy of our department in almost everything that we’re trying. We don’t spend a lot of detailed time on everything. We expose students to it and if they love it, they go and pursue it.”

Ocean Enterprises allows students the opportunity to pursue scuba diving by holding certification classes on Mondays and Wednesdays in October and November, beginning Oct. 13. The students go through three sections of the class before getting certified as scuba divers.

“Students have to do classroom sessions, pool sessions and also a few sessions of diving in the ocean,” Keefer said.

The classroom sessions will be held at Westview right after school, providing a convenient way for Westview students to begin the certification process. The pool sessions will be held at Solana Beach Pool.

Keefer said that the normal class price of $195 is reduced to $145 for any Westview student.

The $50 discount is even available for students who may not be able to take the certification course during October and November, but decide to take the course at a later date with Ocean Enterprises.

Erica Dukovich (11) said that after participating in Discovery Scuba last spring, she planned to take the certification course with Ocean Enterprises during their regularly scheduled classes.

When she found out about the classes coming to Westview after school hours, Dukovich said it just gave her that extra push to take the certification courses right away.

She said she looks forward to taking advantage of the course at school and said that she hopes more students will get involved.

“It was a really fun experience and a great opportunity,” Dukovich said. “I hope that a lot more students get a chance to do it this year, because last year only the aerobics classes got to participate.”

Dukovich said she loved the opportunity to jump in the pool and try scuba diving.

She was interested in scuba diving before she participated in Discovery Scuba, but said that the introductory course furthered her interest.

“I’m hopefully going to get [certified] this year,” Dukovich said. “I took it last year for aerobics and got the opportunity to do it again this year. Ever since the second time, it’s been going through my head to get certified because I really enjoy it.”

Henry said that most students love the opportunity to try something new and love the risk.

Because scuba diving is something most students wouldn’t try on their own, Henry was happy that Ocean Enterprises was able to give them the experience.

Henry said she thought that scuba diving teaches students that fitness doesn’t always have to be a strenuous activity such as running the mile.

“The thing that I found great about it, for a lifetime, is that [students] can do things like dive trips,” Henry said. “There is a whole social aspect to diving: dive groups and dive trips that go along with the dive experience. In vacationing, there are dive opportunities, so I thought it was a great thing to promote. So far it has been very positive.”

Ocean Enterprises plans to hold at least one more session this year, possibly more.

Keefer said that they may even come back in the winter for another Discovery Scuba session.

“It just depends on how often we can coordinate with Henry and any other teachers who may want to get involved,” Keefer said. “We just try and be flexible and give the students a lot of options.