John Sevier Elementary students plunge into the new school year with Swim Week

John Sevier Elementary students are making a splash this week for their annual Swim Week.

Each day, the students make a short walk from the school to the John Sevier Pool for swim lessons and to learn water safety skills.

Tuesday morning, students were gathered in the pool while Swim Week’s organizer and P.E. Teacher, Alex Rouse, tested their knowledge.

“When you see someone in trouble, do you jump in to help them,” Rouse called out to the children.

“No!” the students answered in unison. When Rouse asked what they were supposed to do, they shouted, “Get help!”

Rouse said learning these valuable water safety lessons could prevent tragedy if anything ever happened in the water.

Rouse said the goal is to get the kids comfortable in the water and teach them how to act around bodies of water — and East Tennessee is rich with lakes, rivers and creeks.

That morning, the instructors had students divided into three groups. Advanced swimmers were learning different strokes and testing longevity in the water. Intermediate swimmers were receiving swim lessons, and beginning swimmers were going over the basics.

“We have kids every year that this is the only time they’ve ever been to a public pool,” Rouse said.

They teach those first-time swimmers how to be comfortable in the water and putting their face underwater. They also teach them how to stay calm, floating techniques, and how to use their legs as their motor and their arms as the steering wheel, Rouse explained.

“A lot of these kids, their legs go dead in the water, and they’re just all arms,” Rouse said.

For those beginning swimmers, getting in the water can seem scary at first, but Rouse said the kids warm up to getting in the water. Once they pass that fear threshold, they are excited to see what else they can do.

While the students had free swim time, Rouse recalled his own swim week when he attended John Sevier in his youth. Rouse said John Sevier has been putting on its Swim Week for over 40 years.

Until recently, with Alcoa Elementary’s inaugural Swim Week, John Sevier was the only public school in the state to put on an event of this nature, Rouse said.

While water safety and swimming are the ultimate goals of Swim Week, Rouse said the week could also provide academic benefits.

Rouse explained that students who participate in some sort of physical activity tend to do well academically. In Physical Education, they learn that children who are better skippers tend to be better readers.

“And swimming’s got a lot of that too because you’re crossing the midline, you’re working different parts of the body symmetrically, and so that correlates with confidence in them, and that correlates with confidence in the classroom,” said Rouse.

Rouse said the students get to kick off the start of the school year by learning something new and having fun with their friends. The benefits of practicing a fun physical activity in a positive environment roll over into the classroom.

“Your body — your mind, retains and is more engaged when you’re moving,” said Rouse.