Dainfern College held its annual swimathon with an environmental twist.
The collaboration between the Dainfern College Parents’ Association and Grade 12 learner and head of environmental affairs, Nicholas Petrovic (17) highlighted the dangers of plastic in our oceans.
The fun day involved the prep school learners from Grades 2 – 7 and their teachers. They had to ‘pollute’ the swimming pool with plastic bottles before they jumped in to experience the destructive nature of plastic and how it affects the fish in our oceans.
“We have been planning and working on it for the past three months. We thought it would be a really nice thing because five years ago it was done for us, and we thought it should be a good idea to do it for the next generation and make them aware of pollution and what it does to our oceans,” said Nicholas.
“The aim was to replicate all the plastics in the oceans to create awareness on how littering affects the fish in the sea. I had difficulties swimming through all the plastics when the same event happened in 2018,” he added.
Parents were encouraged to participate by volunteering for an hour to be lifeguards to help keep the learners safe.
One of the teachers, and MC on the day, Sharon Webb, had encouraged learners to come up with unique sea creature outfits. The best-dressed learners in each grade were awarded a JB Active voucher – the sports store has been in partnership with the school’s sports department for the past six months.
Dainfern College, which is a proud member of the international Round Square network of innovative schools, places a major emphasis on environmentalism in its quest to teach learners to think globally and act locally. The ‘plastic swimathon’ is certain to be a memorable event for the learners as an experiential lesson on the effects of pollution and our role in looking after our oceans.
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