Women’s Swimming & Diving Participates in Winter Learning Challenge at Johnson Park School
1/12/2023
With spring semester classes not starting until the end of January at Princeton, the Princeton University women’s swimming & diving team made effective use of its extra free time on Thursday, January 5, by partnering with nearby Johnson Park Elementary School for a Winter Learning Challenge with fifth-graders.
Back in November, sophomores Maddie Seltzer and Jaime Chen were tasked with organizing a service project for the team while it was on campus training during January. While different options were brainstormed and considered, the duo felt it best to stay local and connect with an elementary school.
Seltzer and Chen worked with Princeton Associate Director for Community Relations Melissa Mercuro to help set the day up. Mercuro had a prior relationship with the principal at Johnston Elementary School, and was able to connect them and help make it all happen.
“As student athletes we believe that it is important for us to engage and give back to the community to educate and inspire the youth,” said Seltzer. “The fifth-graders really looked up to us as role models and our team enjoyed getting to know the kids and being creative together.”
The challenge consisted of two creative tasks; the first challenge saw teams of five to six students along with two Tigers compete to see which team could construct the tallest tower using clay and wooden sticks, similar to the marshmallow-spaghetti tower challenge. The second challenge was done individually, with each student being given clay and asked to answer what they would look like as a snowman.
“One of the best memories from the classroom I specifically worked with included watching students bounce between seats to show off their snowman creations and to compliment their classmates' work,” proclaimed Chen. “It was an individual task, yet these students connected with others to share creativity and took ideas to re-invent their own artwork. Of course, there was so much laughter as people saw some really unique designs, like a snowman with crazy, green hair. It was so exciting to see that something our team had organized brought these students so much joy.”
Head Coach Bret Lundgaard was proud of his team for showing the initiative and using their extra free time to give back.
“It was really rewarding to see our team prioritize and organize this event,” said Lundgaard. “Our student-athletes are terrific role models, and I’m hopeful that the students at Johnson Park were as energized by our team’s presence as our team was by them.”
The Tigers will be in the pool next on Friday, January 13, and Saturday, January 14, in Annapolis, Maryland, in a tri-meet at Navy with Notre Dame.
