Free swim lessons will be available courtesy of a partnership between NVU-Johnson’s SHAPE facility and RiseVT, which offers mini grants to Lamoille county programs whose objectives align with USDA missions for fitness and wellness.

RiseVT is an advocate for healthy living in the state of Vermont, and supports many programs that promote healthy lifestyle, food and balanced living.

Six lessons are scheduled and participants are encouraged to show up to as many or as few as they would like.

The program is organized by Cara Hancy, the Athletics and Recreation Office assistant at NVU-Johnson.
She realized that there was a demand in the community for lessons to be offered by people with a variety of skill levels.

“There have been many that I have met in my two years here in SHAPE that do not know how to swim and many more that wish they were stronger swimmers and more still that want to use the pool for workouts but don’t know where to start,” said Hancy.

Hancy offered free swim lessons for adults in 2014 and 2015 when she was just a community member and thought it would be a great idea to bring it back with such a demand.

Lessons will be taught by Hancy, as well as four community members, some of whom are volunteers, and six students who are members of the Aquatics staff at SHAPE.

“There will be a wonderful depth of knowledge, compassion and experience leading these lessons for all abilities,” said Hancy.

Hancy believes that swimming is an important skill to know and wants to make learning available for everyone, regardless of any limitations.

“Learning to swim should be a public health issue in my mind and some states and communities do better than others at helping to create programs and funding to support this concern,” she said, “but much of it relies on the private sector. Swimming is a great source of recreation, one of the leading recreation activities in this county, but more importantly it’s a life skill. I think it’s important to offer programs for all ages. I hope that participants make connections with the instructors, find new motivation to keep going in their learning, health or fitness journey. Most importantly I hope it’s a great time in a great pool!”

For more information about lessons and how to sign up, contact Cara Hancy at [email protected] or call the SHAPE front desk at 802.635.1485. Registration is done online.