Water Safety at MES

On Tuesday February 11, 2014 Kylie Bootsma-Post University Director of Aquatics, Peter Tunila-Post University & American Red Cross(ARC) certified Swim Instructor and Police Officer Craig Tibbals - MES SRO who is also an ARC Aquatics Instructor shared a fun, but serious presentation about Water Safety with grades K-2.  The students learned most importantly to never go near the water without an adult present.  Demonstrations for “Reach and throw don’t go” brought laughter and a stern warning about how to help others when they encounter trouble in the water.  Children were shown how, why and when to wear a lifejacket with easy catch phrases like “Don’t just pack it! Where your Jacket!".  Officer Craig Tibbals drove home the dangers of going out on ice covered waters and what to do if you fall through the ice.

This program is open to all school districts. This program runs approximately 30-45 minutes and grades kindergarten through 3rd grade benefit more with the style and format of the course. Kylie and Peter with their extensive knowledge and ability to make this class entertaining to kids, create a great opportunity for other schools to contact Post University for their chance to schedule the class.

The Learn to Swim (LTS) program at Post University welcomes the opportunity to share with local communities water safety information.  The LTS program at Post University has been running for over 25 years.  All of Post's instructors are trained and certified under the American Red Cross “Learn to Swim” program as Water Safety Instructors (WSI’s). Certified American Red Cross lifeguards work collaboratively with WSIs to ensure your child’s safety at all times.

Safety is as much a concern as teaching the child how to swim.  The Post LTS program teaches children that, even though the water is a lot of fun, there are certain precautions that they must be aware of, and not to take the aquatic environment for granted. Post LTS teaches children how to identify an unsafe situation and get themselves out of trouble by teaching them personal safety. The most important thing is to never swim alone. Always swim with mom, dad or another trusted adult. Even the most experienced swimmers should never swim alone.

This program is open to all the school districts Post’s LTS program is based on the American Red Cross swim principals. The program consists of five primary components, which include personal safety, fundamental aquatic skills, stroke development, stroke improvement, stroke refinement and endurance.  Post LTS strives to build your child’s confidence in the water to better achieve refinement of their swimming strokes. They are very enthusiastic about their program and hope your child will have fun while learning how to swim. They focus on maintaining a positive and encouraging learning environment. For general and schedule information please visit Post.edu/learntoswim.