Diving into the future — Scuba class offers unique opportunity for MHS students

Although it may not offer the jaw-dropping views of the Marianas Trench or the Bermuda Triangle, the Marshalltown High School swimming pool provided students in Chris Eilerts’ Aquatics for Fitness class a chance to acquaint themselves with the basics of scuba diving and learn from a professional, Steve Kitchen of the STC Dive Center in Clive, on Tuesday morning.

The lessons have been offered for the last three years at MHS, and Eilerts reached out to Kitchen to see if he would travel up to Marshalltown. He agreed, and High School Principal Jacque Wyant and Superintendent Theron Schutte were both highly supportive of the idea.

“It’s one of those real world experiences that some kids may not get to experience at all because if they don’t leave Iowa, there’s not a lot of opportunities to do it,” Eilerts said.

Though it’s most often associated with tropical areas and tourism, scuba diving has real-life applications right here in the Midwest like search and rescue missions in lakes and ponds. One student is interested in welding and would love to become an underwater welder.

“Plus, it brings self confidence and self awareness. One girl’s scared to death. I said ‘You’ll be fine’ because they’re trained to hold their breath as long as they can and then come up for air. Now you get to stay down and feel that experience. It’s something they look forward to,” Eilerts said. “It’s all about the kids, and you’ll see that their faces will light up. They’ll be scared at first, but then they’ll get it and then they’ll be on the deep end and have fun. And you’ll go down below the pool and you’ll get to see them down there, and they’ll wave at you and all sorts of stuff.”

While some of the 10 or so kids who participated have practical reasons for wanting to learn the art of scuba diving, many of them simply love swimming and are looking for ways to enhance their skills. Once they’re comfortable under the water, they can swim through hoops, search for items at the bottom of the pool and even take pictures and videos with a waterproof camera.

Bubbles were flying across the pool as scuba divers in the MHS Aquatics for Fitness class tested their skills on Tuesday morning.

Senior Bradley Dyer and sophomore Nolan Sawtelle were both first time divers, and Dyer said he managed to complete a few of the challenges he had created for himself including swimming through all the hoops. Sawtelle struggled with breathing a bit at first but eventually got comfortable and figured out what he was doing.

“Otherwise, it was a very fun experience,” Sawtelle said.

Dyer hopes to dive off the coast of Mexico or Florida someday, while Sawtelle hasn’t thought about it yet. Jaeger Purchase is a sophomore who participated for the second year in a row on Tuesday, and he felt more in his element this time around. His preferred future scuba diving destination is the ABC islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.

“Now, I’m very comfortable going near the deep end. I can keep that air flow going and not accidentally interrupt it by opening my mouth,” Purchase said. “It’s a fun experience, and I’d like to do it more… It’s a very good break from the monotonous schedules that we have, and it’s good for students to have that.”

Steve Kitchen of the STC Dive Center in Clive served as the lead instructor during the scuba lesson at MHS on Tuesday.

Kitchen, a Roosevelt High School graduate, said his interest was first piqued while he was serving as a lifeguard at the YMCA in Des Moines and actually ended up guarding during a scuba class. He met his mentor, Matt Leydens, and served as an assistant instructor for decades before eventually becoming a partner in the shop.

The two taught together until 2018, when Kitchen bought Leydens out and changed the name to STC. While “I Tried” classes used to be a mainstay across the metro area and surrounding communities, Marshalltown is the only one where he’s still currently offering them.

As over 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is water, Kitchen encourages anyone interested in seeing more of the world to consider scuba diving. He’s been too busy with his obligations in Iowa and the Midwest to travel around the world and dive at some of the most famous postcard locations, but he does have a personal trip to the Cayman Islands set for June and another one in the works for next year to Bonaire.

“You enjoy it, plus you get to see the underwater nature. People go out to see nature, but you’re missing 75 percent of the world by not diving,” he said.

So whether the students plan to use the skills professionally, on a tropical vacation or even someday become scuba instructors themselves, the classes give them an opportunity to learn thousands of miles away from the nearest ocean.