SANTA ANA : Paddling Into Academic Mainstream

A group of students from a city junior high school could be stirring up trouble. Instead, they are stirring up the waters at the Newport Aquatics Center as part of a city program to teach kayaking to youths at risk of joining gangs.

The City Council recently renewed funding for Project PRIDE, which polishes the math and reading skills of students from four junior high schools and teaches them to kayak.

The program, which has a $27,000 budget, will begin its second year in October, program coordinator Paco Morales said.

Most of the students have never paddled a kayak before and probably would not have that opportunity without the city program.

“A lot of people don’t even know what a kayak is,” Morales said.

Students in the PRIDE program usually start out paddling a scupper, which is similar to a kayak but with a wider bottom. A scupper is slower than a kayak but easier to balance.

Students who can handle the scuppers with ease move on to kayaks within a week. Eventually, students work their way up to paddling about 2 1/2 miles each session.

The students have kayak lessons twice a week for 12 weeks and work on their reading and math three hours a week at their respective schools.

“It’s fun because you get to work out,” said a 13-year-old who figured he would otherwise be home watching television.

Many of the students are in the program via referrals from school principals or counselors at Lathrop, Spurgeon, Carr and Willard junior high schools.

Kayak coach Sam Couch said the program succeeds because students are on their best behavior to maintain their kayaking privileges.