Creative School students have the opportunity to be enrolled in two-week classes of swimming lessons taught by certified lifeguards. Sessions are in the morning for a half-hour at the center’s leisure pool, where students kick and paddle their way to safe practices in the pool.

“Our main focus is on safety,” said RWC Facilities and Aquatics coordinator Andrea Snead. “We want them to get comfortable in the water, so we work on fundamentals like pushing water, kicking and blowing bubbles so that if they were to fall in the water they’d be able to float.”

Class sizes have a limit of 15 students and attention is given to the children with a ratio of at least one instructor for every three students. Children are grouped by proficiency level and are required to be 4 or 5 to participate.

The program was developed by Snead along with Creative School director Rhonda Moore. Snead based the lesson plan on a similar program she worked with at Daytona State College several  years ago.

All instructors are student lifeguards already employed with the RWC and are hired for the Creative School program based on performance as a lifeguard or status as a certified water safety instructor.

“I didn’t really come from a background of education, but I was a swimmer in high school for four years and team captain, so I have an aquatic background,” said instructor Alex Wood. “I started lifeguarding about two years ago and started lessons with the college crowd after getting my WSI certification.”

Snead said she stresses to her instructors that employing different methods of communication is essential when working with children.

“I’m an example of that,” said instructor Derik Janik. “I was using words like reach and pull – things that adults can understand. But when you’re teaching a child, the word ‘scoop’ becomes a more helpful tool. It helped me to have the kids pretend the pool was a giant bowl of ice cream and to tell them to scoop the ‘ice cream’ and put it in their pockets.”

Instructor Kim Zipoli said: “Through my experience of teaching swim lessons before, this has been the most prepared group of instructors and the best program that I have experienced. I definitely think parents should introduce their children to the water at a young age, because it’s much harder to do at an older age.”

The next swim session for Creative School students will begin Monday, July 9. Swim tuition is $45 per two-week session.

For more information on the Creative School for Children at �鶹ӳ����ý, visit http://csc.sdes.ucf.edu/. To learn more about services offered by the Recreation and Wellness Center, visit http://rwc.sdes.ucf.edu/.

Her background in early childhood education involves curriculum instruction and training, educational leadership and research, environment assessments, and both state and national accreditation standards. She has a strong background working with profit, non-profit and corporate agencies and services in higher education. While at Palm Beach Community College and Miami Dade College, she worked on quality rating initiative projects, received High/Scope curriculum certification, partnered with local early childhood educators and providers, supported ECE students with matriculation requirements, managed and operated the MDC lab school, and collaborated with many community agencies and college departments.

In addition, Moore has past experience in the planning and design of a 29,000-square-foot child care facility as well as its successful opening and management. She also has received NAEYC accreditation for past centers she managed that achieved 100 percent in each of the 10 program standards, including meeting emerging criteria.

Moore will become the Creative School for Children’s third director in its 34 year history. Her first day at �鶹ӳ����ý was January 22. Creative School for Children is in the Division of Student Development and Enrollment Services (SDES).