Coming this fall, students have the opportunity to dive into a new human performance class.
Sponsored by local studio Blue Element, the course will be Corban’s first scuba diving class.
The class has a fee of $495 and will meet from 7:15 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the pool at Salem Racquet Sports center on Commercial Street for the entire fall semester. Students would be responsible for their own commuting. They will perform open water dives at a local lake or reservoir over a weekend in November, according to Dean of Athletics David Bale, and will swim away with their scuba certification.
The Blue Element Studio will provide all the necessary diving equipment, and Blue Element’s co-owner Justin Rochefort will teach the class. As a teenager, Rochefort received his certification from the Professional Association of Diving Instructors. According to the Blue Element website, “From the moment he entered the water, he fell in love with a world he had never seen before.
Rochefort was certified as an Advanced Open Water Diver, and later a Master Scuba Diver. He trained to be a Commercial Diver at the Diver’s Institute of Technology in Seattle, Wash., in 1997, and in 2008, he became a certified PADI Instructor.
Bale hopes that through the human performance classes, students will “find an activity that they can do for the rest of their lives.”
If there’s enough student interest, Bale said Blue Element will offer an advanced scuba course.
Such a course would interest students such as freshman Aaron Wirick who said, “I would totally take the class if I wasn’t already certified.”
Next fall, at least four students must register for the class to happen. While the $495 fee may seem daunting, it does not have to be paid up front. The fee is added into the student’s general bill to be paid along with tuition.
Bale foresees offering a scuba class every other year; this year Corban is merely testing the waters.
“We are really excited to partner with [Corban] and hopefully build a long-term relationship with them,” said Blue Element’s other co-owner, Kris Walker.