Thank You to everyone who made the Giant Stride possible. We couldn’t do it without you!

We participated in a lot of fun activities like oyster painting, the cup game, cupcake decorating, pipe project station, oyster eating and others.

Oyster painting was a station where we used watercolors to paint oyster shells in whatever way we could think of. The cup game was two people pinned against each other tasked with stacking cups in a pyramid, and then returning them to one stack.

There was a huge dive helmet, over 40 pounds, that people were able to wear. The pipe station was a competition with two people, wearing blindfolds, racing against time to assemble some PVC pipes. We had a ton of fun stations run by students and most importantly, a ton of awesome food.

My name is Ben and I’m a sophomore in the Professional Diving program at the New York Harbor School. I’ve recently acquired my PADI open water diver certification after four months of hard work. The thing about the trials you have to take to get your certification is, it doesn’t feel like work at all. Learning to breathe underwater makes you feel like an astronaut on an unknown world with critters spiraling around you. Diving is the scariest, most exciting thing I have ever done. Knowing that you are surrounded by hundreds of thousands of gallons of water and so many things can go wrong is thrilling. Or maybe it’s seeing what most people won’t ever see in real life and dealing with problems in real time. On the other hand, I feel calmer, after learning how not to panic while diving. Diving feels like an art, everyone has their own opinion on the most effective way to do something and their own style of diving.

I couldn’t have ever gotten this far without two people. Their support and patience shows how devoted they are to teaching and passing on their wisdom. These two people are Lenny Speregen and Zoe Greenberg. I’m so grateful that I’m being taught by them and they have easily earned my respect for exposing me to such a vast underwater world. I might even get a career in diving now that I know there is so much I haven’t seen and that I could see, through this program. My class is working towards getting Advanced Open Water certifications and we might even be able to take a trip to the Bahamas next month where I can rack up more dives. Ending my post, I didn’t come to Harbor School for diving, but as soon as I saw what Lenny and Zoe had to offer, I knew what I wanted to do for the next three years.

My name is Oskar and I’m a senior in the diving program at the New York Harbor School. From the moment I heard about the diving program I knew that it was exactly what I wanted. I had never dove or even thought about scuba diving, but for some reason I just knew that this is what I wanted. Now I’m a senior and although my time as a professional diver is far from over, my time so far has proven to be compelling and engaging. Most of all it is refreshing. Not only is it refreshing to hit the water and be able to forget everything going on but the work we do and the things we are able to learn and experience are truly incredible. There is nothing in the world like it and, for that, I am eternally grateful.

 

Right now my senior class and I are busy doing EVERFI and senior projects. EVERFI is a program that essentially teaches us what do with money. It is career and financial management which is an important class that we are lucky enough to take. We are diving as well, weather permitting, finishing up certifications like scientific diving. All of my classmates are doing some pretty interesting things for their senior projects. Joanna, for example, is redoing the transects and quadrats so that we don’t have to convert from the Imperial system to the Metric system. Sally and Crismaris are building a door for our beloved scuba classroom. We are all doing things that will hopefully make a lasting impact for our scuba program.

My senior project is still in the making and I don’t know exactly what I’m doing but I’m gonna start by exploring some of the most polluted waterways in New York City and taking some pictures of them. With these pictures I’m gonna put them in some type of format that can express to people. The senior projects are all very different and tailored to our skills and intrests.

We will also start to dive at the aqarium very soon so tune in for a blog post on the aqarium!!!!

Amalia C.

To any freshmen at the Harbor School,

Your freshman year of the Harbor School is coming to an end you are left with one decision that will stick with you for the next three years. Deciding on a CTE is instrumental to your high school experience, especially if you choose diving. It will occupy a lot of time and dedication till you graduate. Which is why you should be informed of all the Professional Diving Program has to offer before you take the next step into the rest of high school.

One, the diving program requires students to attend weekend dives every Saturday. You will be waking up early to meet at the Battery Maritime Building and traveling to Dutch Springs, Pennsylvania. Dutch Springs is where the Sophomores will complete their first certification: Open Water Diver. Other diving will be scheduled at sites like Bushwick Pool in Brooklyn. Just remember that your Saturdays will be taken up by diving. During school time the sophomores are required everyday to show up to class at the MAST Center located on Governor’s Island. It is about a ten minute walk (rain, sleet, or snow). At class you will learn a bunch of exciting new things, my personal favorite was Fish Identification. The kids attending the Bahamas will use what they learned from class in the open water. You will also learn CPR and First Aid, and have the opportunity to listen to Lenny repeat many of his jokes.

The Professional Diving Program is a team effort. Which means working together is essential for the program. Coming in off the 7:30 ferry in the mornings to wash gear, and staying after school at Diver Support Meetings are few things that help our program. Washing gear and unpacking is mandatory and expected from every student to help out. Our diving is very gear heavy and consists of lugging around heavy tanks. But with everyone helping the process goes a lot smoother. DST meetings is a newly run program in our diving family that comes up with ways for us to do activities, and spend time outside of diving. We recently just had an afterschool party to introduce the sophomore divers to the upperclassmen. Other things we look forward to is camping trips, and the overnight at the MAST Center.

To conclude, as you are coming near to your Freshman year making a CTE decision is very important. I didn’t even know what I wanted to choose until I went on the Diving Field class. Scuba diving iss a beautiful experience that puts you out of your environment into a new world full of discovery. Hopefully you have that same experience with whatever you decide to choose, and we look forward to seeing you as a diver at the Harbor School.

If you were able to attend Beneath the Sea this year, you would have witnessed an amazing presentation done by Cristina Zenato, a shark and cave diver. In my opinion, her lecture was the most memorable and engaging one I have seen in the 3 years of attending BTS.

Her dedication to shark conservation and education left me in awe, and you could see in her eyes that she truly wanted to inform us of the astounding nature of the sharks, of which she called her family. Many of the spectators, including me, at first said “heck no!” when she suggested diving with sharks. But as the presentation went along, I noticed she spoke of the sharks as if they were nowhere near as scary as we thought they were. It was like she was talking about a small pet, not a dangerous killer animal like many people had imagined! Cristina also showed a video where she was surrounded by 20ft sharks, and rather than be panicked, like I would have, she petted them! All of the heck-nos turned into heck-yeahs and I was ready to fly to the Bahamas and experiencing shark diving with Cristina!

Cristina Zenato is a member of Women Divers Hall of Fame and is a huge inspiration for me. After reading this, I hope she becomes yours too.

Courtney B.