Late last month, in the blazing hot afternoon sun, the swimming pool of the OVS Upper Campus was buzzing with excitement and dedication. Students were swimming lap after lap in the cold, splashing water, while helpers cheered them on from the sidelines.
It was the OVS Swim-a-Thon, independently organized by current swim coach and senior Liam Castagna, that drew so many people to work together.
The Oct. 25 event, which was created to raise money for the school’s swim team and was open to any student to participate in, raised nearly $1,000, which will be used to help launch a competitive swim program at the Upper Campus.
In total, 13 students took part in the swim-a-thon, five of whom were swimmers and the other eight who served as lap counters.
Senior Celeste Addison assisted in counting the laps Liam swam, and, being one of his peers and classmates, was able to see the amount of effort he put into this event.
“[Liam] was really passionate about raising the money and led the charge which resulted in the pool program getting a lot of money,” Celeste said.
To raise the money, each participant found sponsors to pledge them any amount of money per lap, and nearly every student managed to swim 100 laps.
One sponsor who has a special attachment to the school’s swim program is Assistant Head of School Crystal Davis. She, herself, is passionate about swimming, being a former competitive swimmer and the first to coach the swim team.
“When the swimming pool was built at the Upper Campus, I was the first swim coach, and coached here for years and years,” she explained. “It is very dear to me.”
Liam is more than pleased with the success of the swim-a-thon, and hopes student dedication to the swim program will continue for years to come.
“It usually is a one time thing that would happen once a year, and since, of course, I’m going to be gone next year I wouldn’t be here to initiate that,” Liam said about the swim-a-thon. “But if anyone else wants to do that next year, and wants to continue the swimming program, I would be all in favor of that.”