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Inspiration for Adaptive Swim Lessons

By Robin Taylor

Driving Public Awareness

When Robin and Chuck Taylor opened the Brigantine Aquatic Center in 2001, they had a dream to create an all-inclusive space for the community to swim, not just swim for exercise and competition, but to teach the lifesaving skill of swimming to the community.

Along with their memberships, swim lessons, and competitive teams, they also had adaptive swim lessons for the special needs community.  This program was always free of charge, or donation based in the beginning.  The number of need for scholarships kept increasing which in 2017, with the help of their daughter Sari, led to the creation of Green Whales Inc.

Green Whales Inc. is a non-profit with the mission of bringing water safety and to instill a love of swimming to the community free of charge.  This is done through three programs, the Greenheads Swim Team, Whelan’s Whales (a program named after the late, great Jim “the whale” Whelan), and the Stanley’s Special Friends program, a water safety program for children with varying special needs.

Whelan’s Whales was originally started as a collaboration with the Atlantic City Board of Education.  The school district is blessed with three pools that had been laying dormant since Senator Whelan passed away.  There was a population of thousands that live on an island surrounded by water with no access to the lifesaving swim lessons.  Green Whales knew they needed to do something, started fundraising, and thanks to a few great donors, one being Jim Whelan’s wife, the whales program was born.  

In the first year we taught over 500 children in 8-week sessions, and close to 1,000 to date while developing a partnership with the Atlantic City Board of education.  Covid put a halt to the progress, but the program is up and fully running this spring with a waiting list a mile long and the school districts of Brigantine and Absecon have been added to the program.  

Collaboration

Currently the Whelan’s Whales program offers the following in the three districts:

  • Four free lessons for every first-grade student in three districts wide.  This is the parents’ responsibility to get the children to and from the lessons free of charge.
  • Financially based scholarships or discounted rates for continuing education of the first-grade students
  • Junior Lifeguard classes for all 7th and 8th grade students
  • Competitive Middle School Swim teams in all three districts
  • School visits from our mascots to all Pre K-4 classes to spread our mission. 

Drowning Prevention

Stanley’s Special Friends is a free 4-week course for any child in Atlantic County with special needs.  This program that is implemented is called- Fall-Flip-Float.  It was designed with our Neuro-Divergent children in mind.  These children have a tendency to wander toward water and actually love being under the water. This program was developed to keep them safe if they ever wander into a body of water.  It teaches them the skills to get strong enough in the water to get themselves out of it if they are in a situation that may be life threatening.  To date, 471 children have participated in this program.  After the four-week course is completed, children are encouraged to join our Sunday program, where they come and practice learned skills and participate in organized play for only $40 per month.  This price is possible, because the program is run by a rotating study stream of volunteers.  This list to volunteer is almost as long as the list to sign up for the course.  Children in this program are encouraged to join our Special Olympic Swim Team when the skill set for such is developed.  

We’d love to talk!

Robin Taylor of the Brigantine Aquatic Center and Sari Carroll, the founder of Green Whales Inc. would always be available for questions or brainstorming on how you can bring programs like ours free to your community and school district.   Contact sariswims@gmail.com To learn more about our program, Click Here

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David is the Founder and President of National Safety Training Center and its predecessor companies – Elite Tactical Academy and Mine Brook Search & Rescue, Inc.  He is  a seasoned business leader and public safety education expert. He currently focuses on running this large training center and keeps active teaching both provider level classes and many instructor level classes.

He holds numerous certifications including:

  • American Red Cross Instructor / Trainer
    • BLS / ALS / PALS
    • Lay Rescuer
    • Lifeguarding
    • Babysitting
  • American Heart Association Training Center Faculty
    • BLS
    • HeartSaver
  • National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians Instructor
    • Tactical Emergency Casualty Care
    • Pre Hospital Trauma Life Support
    • Mental Health Resilience Officer
    • Psychological Trauma in EMS Patients

 

David has previously worked as a Red Cross employee in 2 roles:

  • Public Safety Instructor for the Northern VT Chapter – teaching corporate classes for the Red Cross
  • Lifeguard Instructor / Trainer / Educator for the National Association – Teaching the Instructor / Trainer Academies to create new Lifeguard Instructor / Trainers.

 

David lives in the Martinsville section of Bridgewater NJ with his family who are also active in the Public Safety Training / Medical training business. He is a local volunteer Firefighter / EMT, something he has been doing since 1984! David also serves as a volunteer in the US Coast Guard on a specialized deployable communications team.

Dr. Angela K. Beale is an Associate Professor, and Program Coordinator of the Health/Physical Education, Teacher Education  (HPETE) Program, in the Department of Content Area Teacher Education (CATE), in the College of Education, at Rowan University. Dr. Beale Tawfeeq’s belief as an educator and researcher are grounded in her mission of “building bridges to break down barriers” in communities, a trend that was established during her developmental years, via personal, educational,  and physical activity experiences. Dr. Beale Tawfeeq specializes in youth development through aquatic physical activity, curriculum development in health and physical education, and water safety and drowning prevention education in K-12 schools, and community-based organizations. Her recent professional include co-authoring of the most recent National Health Education Standards for the Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE America, 2024), a contributor and expert reviewer to the United States National Water Safety Action Plan  (2024). She currently serves as a board member and director of education and research  for Diversity In Aquatics (DIA), a non-profit 501 4c organization, whose mission is to educate, promote, and support water  safety and healthy aquatic activities for vulnerable populations, member of American Red Cross, Scientific Advisory  Council, Aquatic Sub Council; board member of the Habitheque Blue and Green Fund, which was formed to promote and  further societal awareness of emerging technologies and techniques for water conservation, ecosystem restoration and  renewable energy, while also providing a vision for scaling these advancements for global impact.