Many thanks to all that showed up at last nights OJR School Board Meeting.
Be sure to see the below Video of Mark Zeleznick addresssing the OJR School Board.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
When will the OJR Pool Re Open?
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Here's just one reason to keep the OJR Pool open.
please note below quote from OJR Graduate and Daughter of long time OJR School Board Member Kathy Whitlock.(who is also on the Board of Trustees of West Chester University)
The ability to swim remains a graduation requirement "because we're promoting well-balanced students here," said Nikki Whitlock, head swim coach and aquatics director at Bryn Mawr. "It's a life skill."
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/9530142.html
Staying afloat in college
Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr students must pass a swimming test to graduate, a fading tradition.
By Lini S. Kadaba
Inquirer Staff Writer
Classes don't start until tomorrow, but freshman Steve Dean has already confronted his first test at elite Swarthmore College - a sink-or-swim challenge in the truest sense.
On Thursday, Dean jumped into 13 feet of water at the school's Ware Pool to prove he could survive 15 interminable minutes without drowning. He was sure he would flunk the aquatics exam, which entailed swimming 100 meters and then - here was the tricky part - staying afloat the rest of the time.
"Given that my previous record treading water was 45 seconds, I consider this a drastic improvement," a relieved Dean said after almost bailing, then passing the test.
The 18-year-old from Conshohocken had plenty of company. On Thursday and Friday, he and his 365 fellow freshmen were invited to take the plunge and demonstrate their swimming proficiency, a requirement for graduation at Swarthmore.
The 10 to 15 percent who typically fail, or simply do not want to risk sinking like a rock, must take one of three aquatics classes, head swim coach Sue Davis said.
The swim test was once as common on college and university campuses as Freshman Comp. But most schools have thrown in the towel. In an age of multiple fitness options, swimming is no longer viewed as that essential finishing stroke for college graduates.
Besides Swarthmore, the holdouts include Bryn Mawr (freshmen will take their dips today), Notre Dame (which used to require students to be in the buff), Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth, Washington & Lee, and the military academies.
West Point's "Survival Gate Four," the last in a series of swim challenges, may be the ultimate test. Wearing their uniforms, weighed down with weapons, and facing 28-inch wave crests, cadets cross a pool in darkness and fog to the accompaniment of flashing strobe lights and the blaring soundtrack to Black Hawk Down.
"It's a tremendous confidence booster," said John McVan, aquatics specialist at the academy.
In the early decades of the 1900s, more than two-thirds of higher-learning institutions had swim requirements, said Larry Hensley, a physical education professor at the University of Northern Iowa.
In a 1977 survey, 42 percent of the approximately 600 schools that responded had some swim requisite, he said. By 2000, that figure had plummeted below 5 percent.
Since then, even more colleges have let the test go down the drain. Swarthmore has no such plans.
"It's as much tradition as anything," said Adam Hertz, athletics and physical education director at the school, where the test dates to the World War I era.
Some have asked why Swarthmore doesn't require CPR and first aid instead. Valuable skills, Hertz said, but swimming is fun. It's exercise.
At many schools, including Swarthmore, it's said that a wealthy alum donated money for a school pool after a son or daughter drowned. The condition of the gift was a swim requirement.
Harvard's version of the story has Eleanor Elkins Widener, widow of wealthy Philadelphia tramway heir George D. Widener, donating money for a campus library (true) in honor of her son Harry, a 1907 grad who died with his father when the Titanic sank (also true).
The endowment, the story continues, had a swim test as a condition (not true) because Harry might have survived had he possessed that skill (highly unlikely).
In reality, Swarthmore and others instituted the policy in response to an American Red Cross effort to promote swimming as a way to stay fit, a concern during wartime.
Bryn Mawr, where the practice began in the 1909-10 school year, will ask freshmen to swim continuously for 10 minutes demonstrating two strokes, tread water for one minute, and float motionless for one minute.
The ability to swim remains a graduation requirement "because we're promoting well-balanced students here," said Nikki Whitlock, head swim coach and aquatics director at Bryn Mawr. "It's a life skill."
Invariably, some wait until senior year to get tested. "We had a whole mess of those last year," Whitlock said. "It becomes a panic moment."
At Swarthmore, Hertz said only one student in his six-year tenure had the swimming test keep him from graduating on time. "It gets awkward," he allowed.
On Thursday, about a dozen students arrived poolside in bathing suits and trunks every 15 minutes. Many clutched towels tightly.
"I think they're more nervous about getting into a swimsuit in front of others," joked sophomore Jake Ban, 20, of St. Louis, who led one group.
Bertolain Elyseen, 17, of New York, swam with ease, but could not last. "I hadn't paced myself," he said glumly. He planned to try again.
Brenna DiCola, 18, of Lansdale, went straight for the swim class. "I don't like deep water," she said.
Others stuck with it. They swam freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke, anything. That filled a few minutes, but 15? Most treaded water near the pool wall, next to lifeguards or orientation leaders, and chatted. Some brave souls tossed Frisbees.
Calvin Ho, 18, of Arcadia, Calif., 35 miles from the Pacific Ocean, opted for the class. He can "sort of, kind of swim," Ho said. "But I would not pass this test."
Hertz watched it all with a grin.
"They should relish this one," he said. "It's going to be the easiest test they have here."
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Contact staff writer Lini S. Kadaba at 610-701-7624 or Lkadaba@phillynews.com.
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