Photo courtesy of Kathleen Russel
Freshmen divers certified on weekend excursion
Photo courtesy of Kathleen Russel Over the weekend, four students successfully obtained PADI Open Water Diver certification for PE credit. The group of ...
Mar 16, 2013
Photo courtesy of Kathleen Russel
Over the weekend, four students successfully obtained PADI Open Water Diver certification for PE credit. The group of freshman girls — Veronica Houk, Joey Bui, Tamara Sanchez-Ortiz and Clare Hennig —¬ completed four open water dives over a two-day period.
The group set out early from the marina outside Emirates Palace this past Friday amidst a haze of fog. By the time the boat reached the dive spot, a breakwater near a long-ago sunken dhow, visibility had improved and the dive was allowed to proceed.
The students explored the underwater world of the ocean for the first time while demonstrating the skills they had learned in bi-weekly classes throughout the past five weeks. The first day of the excursion focused on more basic scuba knowledge, such as descending and ascending safely, clearing a flooded mask and buoyancy control.
Two dives were also held on the following day at The Blocks, a man-made concrete reef teeming with sea life. The students were tested on more technical skills, such as removing and replacing gear while in the water as well as compass navigation.
This semester was the first time NYUAD offered a women’s only scuba class to encourage and allow more females to participate. However, it was quickly established that none of the girls enrolled felt strongly about the class being restricted to women only.
"I understand why the school would make an all girls' class possible, for girls who are not comfortable wearing bathing suits around males," freshman Joey Bui said. But she did not personally mind. "It didn't matter much to me either way.”
Since none of the girls felt strongly about the class being restricted to women, there were no objections to some of the classes being taught by a male.
The restriction did make it much easier for the four freshmen to enroll in the highly demanded PE class, as last year sophomores and juniors quickly filled the available spots.
“I think that scuba diving isn’t something that I would necessarily have pursued if I hadn’t been able to take it through a PE class,” freshmen Veronica Houk said. “It’s really cool that we got to do this through NYU.”
Immediately after being certified, the four students began thinking of what comes next. Plans were arranged on the bus ride home for diving during spring break, joining the Scuba SIG and enrolling in more advanced dive courses.
“I’m really hoping the school will make a PE class for higher scuba diving levels,” Bui said, to which the others all agreed.
Clare Hennig is features editor. Email her at thegazelle.org@gmail.com.
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