CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Lilliana Servellon was excited to get into the water at the Corpus Christi Natatorium on Tuesday morning after preparing Monday to learn to scuba dive.
"Yesterday we watched the videos, and so I was already kinda prepared on what to expect from it as far as the breathing and what we would be doing," she said.
The one thing she didn't take into consideration was the water temperature.
"At first it was very cold and then it was very exciting," she said. "And it was just a lot of fun."
Carroll High School students will have the opportunity Tuesday to learn this skill during an opportunity not often seen in public schools.
"It has opened up a lot of different experiences for me," said Carroll aquatics teacher Heidi Ballew. "And when I was teaching my students this year, I felt like this is an opportunity and experience that they needed to have so that it can broaden their perspective."
The district was able to team up with Ascuba Venture to provide this opportunity.
"For some, it could be their very first time experiencing something like this, and so this is an amazing opportunity for them," said Ascuba Venture's ToniAnn German. "It's also a great part to include in any curriculum that you're doing."
Ballew said she has had dives all across the United States and the world, and she and German were excited to open up a new world to the kids.
"It's very, very exciting," German said. "For some people, it is a career. It's a lifestyle. It's a form of therapy. It is a way for them to connect with their natural environment, right? And, so, scuba diving really can open lots of doors."
For students such as Lilliana, who would like to explore the Mariana Trench as a marine biologist one day, it gives them a taste of the basics of what it takes to make it in that field.
"It's an amazing opportunity for people to explore the ocean and marine life, and also really get in touch with human impact and understand what's happening in our oceans," German said.
There are many different careers in which scuba diving is a necessary skill, Ballew said, including oil and gas exploration and scientific diving.
"I'm hoping this will open up a lot of different opportunities for them to explore," she said.
The students will be put into buoyancy compensators, she said, not only to support the weight of the cylinders, but to familiarize the students with controlling their buoyancy -- or their ability to float -- in the water.
"My goal is to get them under the water today, see if they like it, and then, hopefully, they'll want to continue doing this after they leave Carroll High School," Ballew said.
"There's a lot of nervous energy, but there's lot of excitement as well," she said. "Yesterday I prepared them with lots anbd lots of instructions and tutorials and giving them a run-through of everything that would happen today so that they have all of the expectations in front of them and are fully prepared, so today they've got amazing instructors that are helping them get ready to get into the water and breathe underwater."
"It's just so much fun, you're gonna have fun in the water," Lilliana said. "It's not cold -- trust me."