NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BLACK SCUBA DIVERS YOUTH EDUCATIONAL SUMMIT


Greeting Fellow Divers, Dive Clubs and Youth Project Managers,

The National Association of Black Scuba Divers (NABS) has traditionally sponsored a Youth Program on a biannual basis to educate young people on the science of the Aquatic Environment and the Sport of Scuba Diving. There has been a total of 5 youth summits hosted by NABS. In the past, NABS hosted a Youth Summit in Key Largo, Florida that had more than 60 youths participating. During this three day event there were a number of workshops conducted by professionals and educators from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Florida Atlantic University. More than 30 young people were trained in the basics of underwater exploration with open water diver certifications done by volunteer dive instructors (members of NABS).

This letter is to announce the NABS Youth Educational Summit 2009, for ages 10 years old thru 18 years old, to be conducted at Savannah State University, June 21-27 2009. We have a NABS Committee working to make this the best summit ever. Ken Stewart is the Chairman of the committee. We are planning to have 40 youth participants for 2009. We are now trying to identify organizations that may be interested in sponsoring one or more youths to attend the 2009 youth summit. It is very important to have youths attend from each region. We have never had youths from the west to attend this summit and only 1 youth from the Midwest during the past 5 summits.

This is a valuable learning experience for any youth and we need your help to make the NABS Youth Educational Summit 2009 a success. The selected youth need not be an open water scuba diver but must have an aquatic skill, i.e., swimming, diving, snorkeling, etc. In other words the youth must be comfortable in water. We are asking that each NABS club sponsor at least one youth to attend the 2009 youth summit.

For more information please contact Ken Stewart or any of the NABS Youth Committee members listed below.


CHAIRMAN: Ken Stewart kennstewart@clearwire.net
SOUTH: Lorraine Stallworth sadhara@aol.com
EAST: Kamau Sadki ksadiki@gmail.com
Mid-West: Dr. Anita Moncrease amoncrease28@comcast.net
WEST: Tina Houston Tina.Houston@doj.ca.gov
Communications: Charles Jolley CJolleywone@yahoo.com
Youth Membership: Jimi Mack jimmiemack2@tx.rr.com
Finance: Jay Haigler jvista@aol.com
Initiatives: Ernie Franklin earnest.franklin@dc.gov

Welcome aboard David to the DAP Network & Forum, where you will definitely have the opportunity to interact with others in Aquatics.
Like the special interest, SCUBA group, there are many who share your interest in Competitive & Recreational Swimming and Life Guard Training. As Program Mgr. of a youth group, I urge you to implement a youth SCUBA program in the "Windy City" area and bring them to Florida for some clear warm water diving.
- Ric Powell

Hi David(or shall I say Homeboy),
Welcome to the site and hope you find it as enjoyable and informative as I have. We look forward to hearing from you and your experiences via our open forum and discussions. Don't be shy and post a pic. I see you haven't wasted any time and joined the Scuba Group. By the way, nice website for Windycityseals!!! Where were they when I was coming up in Chi-Town??? I grew up on Chicago's South Side in the North Roseland area and attended High School at Chicago Vocational. I hope to add diving to my list of interest in the near future, but right now, I will remain a "diver wanna be". Take Care and God Bless You. Darrick aka dswimmerman

Also, you will note that I put pictures of the Youth Group's Introduction to SCUBA event from June. Shaun Anderson, co-founder of Diversity in Aquatics asked me if we have any material that we want him to post about it on our general news blog. I will leave that to you.