SCUBA DIVING

AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITY: SEMESTER 1

I wanted to be part of an after school activity this semester. My father is a certified scuba diver and has wanted me to get my certificate for years now. I took this as the perfect opportunity to get more involved with my school community and peers through signing up for the 2013 scuba diving course. I feel like this course will not only be enjoyable but also very beneficial in the future. If I am certified I think that my father and myself will be able to go on many diving adventures all over the world exploring the under water world. This course was difficult to sign up for as I had a couple fears that I would need to face later on during the course. I wasn't sure if I was comfortable learning at this time and if I would be able to go through with it. But I decided to be more open-minded and step out of my comfort zone. There are currently 6 students including myself enrolled in the program. It was definitely much different than I expected. There is a lot of course work to complete before even going near any of the equipment or the water. First we are expected to learn about the different aspects of diving including the different equipment and what it is used for. It is also important to learn about the dangers or diving, the effects it can have on your body, health, safety as well as the marine life. Before going near the water we need to review the steps to applying the equipment and how to use it during a dive. Once we did this  and completed various quizzes to test our knowledge, we finally were able to go to the pool. This was the part of the course that terrified me and where I had trouble comfortably applying myself to. After arranging all equipment and getting ready for the dive I calmed myself down and was able to risk take and not completely get over but face my fear of breathing through a tank underwater and trusting the equipment to keep me alive. Diving in the pool was really interesting and it gave me many imaginations of that real dives in the oceans would be like. It got me extremely excited. Though we have only just started the course and there are many more things to learn, I am satisfied with my choice of this activity and hope to be able to learn much more through this which I may be able to shape myself further in academics or in the person I strive to be. We have more coursework planned for the next couple of weeks before taking our first trip to the ocean in December. I look forward to the rest of this activity to fill my Action and perhaps creativity sections for my CAS.