Service – Gecko Inc.

At the beginning of this school year, I decided to switch services because I wanted to do something a little bit more physically active for my service, so I decided on Gecko Inc. Gecko Inc is a service dedicated to teaching local Sri Lankan students how to swim. This is extremely important because even though Sri Lanka is an island, lots of kids here do not know how to swim and teaching them basic water survival skills could save some of their lives. We have had five service meetings so far, although we have only had Sri Lankan kids in the pool for the last two. Our first meeting was to get acquainted with our goal and make a lesson plan. The next two weeks were dedicated to testing the lesson plan for flaws, and the past two weeks we have actually been able to start working with kids, teaching them how to float, kick, and finally swim. We have a variety of different skill levels, from kids who have never swam to kids who are competent swimmers. This has made it challenging to construct a curriculum for everyone, so we separated them into beginner, intermediate, and advanced swimmers.

The beginner group consists of students who have never learned how to swim or float before, so we start by teaching them how to float so that if they are put in a situation where they need to survive in the water, they are able to float until someone can help them. From there, we move on to kicking. From there, they move up to the intermediate group where were teach them freestyle, and we start working on improving their form. The advanced group learns backstroke, diving, and they start racing each other. I have mostly worked with the beginners on floating, and in two weeks I have seen significant improvements in the group’s ability to float, and I have even moved on to kicking with some of them. Overall, service has been rewarding and fun, and I look forward to it every week.