Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Program Rationale
Try SCUBA relates to Dive Shop San Marcos mission by encouraging non-divers to engage in SCUBA as
a lifelong recreation activity. This event allows for people to Try SCUBA for free, and to give them
an opportunity to experience something new. Participants are also given the opportunity to relax in new
and unique settings while a trained instructor guides them through basic skills that will keep them safe
and relaxed during the experience. These skills include, breathing and diving techniques, that will kindle a
certain amount of concentration and tranquility on the participants part. Dive Shop San Marcos has
provided Texas State affiliates with the opportunity to experience this unique activity in a fun, free, and
safe environment.
The Try SCUBA event will be held in The Aqua Sports Center on the Texas State
University Campus on Saturday, July 30. We will be hosting two hour sessions for
Texas State affiliates from 9am to 4pm. On this day, a wide variety of the Texas
State family will be showing up to try out a new up-and-coming event hosted by the
Dive shop San Marcos. If all goes well, Try SCUBA will be a popular event open to
all of public for everyone to experience a beginners taste of what its like to scuba
dive!
We would be delighted to invite you to participate in the new Try SCUBA event
through your sponsorship. It is organizations like you that will help build this
event into something great and allow for participants to test out what the Dive
Shop of San Marcos is all about. Our sponsors will be recognized throughout the
event, labeled on the t-shirts, and will have the honor of being a proud supporter of
the Dive Shop San Marcos and the Texas State Student Recreation Division.
Thank you for your time and consideration in bringing together people with the
same passions and interest of the Dive Shop San Marcos. We look forward to
hearing back and partnering with you to provide this amazing opportunity to the
Texas State community and to its students of the Recreation Division!
Sincerely,
Phoenix Armstrong
Student of Recreation Division
STUDENT RECREATION DIVISION
601 University Drive | JowersCenter | San Marcos, 78666
phone: 575.202.9402 | PS11@TXSTATE.EDU
This letter is an electronic communication from Texas State University.
Try SCUBA
Free! Introductory Diving Event
Press Release:
THE SAN MARCOS DIVE SHOP AND TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY WILL HOST THE
2016 FIRST ANNUAL TRYSCUBA INTRODUCTORY DIVING EVENT
Equipment/Supply List
Equipment
Scuba Gear
Vest
Oxygen Tank
Regulator
Mask
Fins
Water Coolers?
Towel
Swimsuit
Supplies
Bottle of water
Cups
Flyers
Venue Information
Name and Address of Location
Texas State University Aqua Sports Center
301 State Street
San Marcos, TX 78666
Map of Location
The Aqua Sports Center pool area will be used during this event and the parking lot across the street for
participants to use when attending.
Create a layout of the event in a map format with details on setup and map legend
Staff Management Plan
Job descriptions of each of your group members
Team 4 consists of four group members and each will have their own responsibilities and duties when
preparing and working the event. Before the event starts all group members will be ready and willing to
help in any way possible, with whatever is needed to be done in the setup of the scuba equipment.
In the beginning of the event Casey St. Angelo and Phoenix Armstrong can both be greeting and
registering participants walking into the event. Waivers will need to be distributed, and they can answer
any questions participants may have. Jordan Ontiveros and Gabrielle Garza will continue to look around
the facility and help the lead instructor with any last minute changes. During the event all group members
will help the lead instructor during his session to help the course run smoothly.
There will be approximately 5 volunteers helping during this event and these volunteers will be doing the
same jobs as group members.
Contingency Plan
If Scuba instructor cannot make it for some reason?
If for some reason our certified Scuba instructor can not make it, then as a class we would need to step in.
We could either; find another volunteer who works at the dive shop and would be willing to step in, or we
could use one of our own classmates who is certified in Scuba and could teach the basics.
If for some reason the pool was shut down or unusable for our participants, we would have another
location to go to for a plan B. This secondary pool could be the one at the Activity Center of San Marcos.
This location allows for a free entrance and for a big space to park. Poop in the pool could be an
interesting example for this scenario.
If the event comes and we are lacking volunteers for our session then the two options are: stepping in and
taking on more responsibilities individually, or calling in other volunteers from the other sessions. For
this to happen we will make sure to have other volunteers phone numbers who may be willing to work
other sessions if needed.
This can be prevented on event day as long as the count of how many participants will be participating is
accurate, and theres extra equipment for safe measures. However, if something does happen and there is
not enough equipment for all of our participants, we would have to allow them to share, or try to transfer
participants to a different (less crowded) session. Transferring the participants will be worst case
scenario, but allowing them to share the diving equipment could still allow each participant to get a
general understanding of what Scuba diving entails.
If come event day and no one has shown up to the sessions, then we will still have to make the best of the
event. Some of the students, and volunteers can become the participants. This will still help Bob Vesseliza
test out this event for the future. Also, this will help us as students get a better understanding of what to do
in a situation that could easily happen in our field of work.
Inclusion Plan
Describe, in detail, how this event will be made accessible to as many types of populations as
possible. Include descriptions for 3 specific disability groups and for 2 other groups that may require
special accommodations.
Evaluation
Answer the following prompts related to evaluation
o Select and describe 3 ways that you could evaluate this event (evaluation tools) and how you would
implement them.
A few ways we could evaluate this event would be things such as setting goals and expectations,
conducting surveys immediately after event, and lastly gathering feedback of the event stakeholders. By
setting expectations for this event, it will help our group have a goal in mind that we can aim for, whether
it be the number of people that attend the event or even just the event running smoothly. Secondly,
conducting surveys immediately after the event will enable us to hear back from the participants on the
pros and cons of our event. This will allow us to know which areas are our strong points and also which
areas we will need to work on for next time we plan event, whether it be a Try SCUBA event or
something completely different. Finally, getting feedback from the event organizers, planners and other
staff will allow for another point of view on ways to improve the event. This is almost just as important as
the surveys, because it allows for another perspective for the people who were working behind the scenes
of this event.
o Design and attach a participant evaluation form. (Scroll to bottom of page)
o Report how well goals and objectives have been attained (you must write each one out and describe
how each was or was not met).
Our first goal was to promote the Try SCUBA event to affiliates of Texas State University. This
called upon all members of our group to make one social media post to promote the event before July
30th, and each member of our group would distribute 75 flyers before July 30. Our group was able to
make one social media post each on sites like Facebook and Twitter. Secondly, our class created a flyer
for this event, but we were not able to print out the flyers or pass any of them out. We were able to
achieve half of our first goal.
Our second goal was to manage supplies and equipment during the Try SCUBA event. This
would call for all members from our group assembling the equipment needed for event participation
before the start of each session. At the end of each session all of the used supplies would be disposed of
by group members. I would say we did attain this goal as a group, even though there were not supplies
present for our group members to disposed of. We did put in place, and assemble all of the equipment
needed before the event. However, there was no assembling that needed the be done at the end of our
session, because we had already assembled enough equipment that would last for the other sessions of
that day.
Finally, our third goal was to provide a safe environment to develop basic scuba techniques. We
were going to attain this by making sure the lead instructor inspected all of the equipment that would be
used by participants before each session. Members of our group would do a sweep of the pool facility to
identify any hazardous materials. I would say our goal and two objectives were attained even though we
were un-able to measure how well the main instructors inspected all of the equipment used previous to the
sessions. However, we do know, each participant was fitted for the equipment by the instructor. As I
watched, I noticed the instructors made sure all the equipment was in proper working order before putting
it on a participant and they made sure the equipment fit comfortably. Furthermore, as a group we did not
specifically walk around the whole time watching for hazardous materials, but we did keep an eye out for
things that could harm people. For example, we made sure all the equipment needed was in the right place
and nothing was going to be a potential hazard.
o Address how you have evaluated each of the 5 Ps of evaluation (Participants, Personnel, Place,
Policies/Administration, Program) and identify HOW they have been evaluated throughout the project
The place that the event took place was the Aqua Sports Center at Texas State University that had
planned on three regularly occurring two hour sessions of Try SCUBA. The instructor of Try SCUBA
decided that he would start the sessions earlier depending on how many participants and volunteers
showed up during certain times, if a few showed up 15 minutes before the next session he would put them
in a group and start earlier and continually add more people into a different group as they showed up. The
personnel of the Try SCUBA consisted of the lead instructor, some supporting instructors, a few
assistants, and the volunteers. The instructors and assistants had more knowledge of scuba diving and
were the personnel in the pool with the participants giving the information on the basics of the Try
SCUBA session. The instructors are certified in teaching scuba diving certification courses and that
qualified them to teach this non-certifying basic scuba course. The volunteers which included the students
in the programming class, were on the outside of the pool were there to help bring things into the pool if
the instructors needed any equipment left on the perimeter. The group of volunteers had expected to do
this due to the lack of information known about scuba diving. The participants were given the information
to perform the skills explained to them during the session and were able to have a good experience. The
event had more personnel present than participants which was also expected. The event being limited to
only Texas State student, faculty, staff, and alumni there wasn't an expectation of a big crowd because it is
summer and most students go home. The Try SCUBA website had only five people registered for the first
session. The participants of the event seemed to enjoy the event. When they were leaving the pool during
the end of the event all that was heard were good things. The policies of the facility were posted on the
Aqua Sports Center Texas State University website of basic etiquette of the pool and these policies were
also on the wall of the facility. The procedures, policies and rules of scuba diving is information the group
would not know because we were not participating in the event. The policies and procedures of the event
are unknown to our group but we had a basic outline of the event. There would be a couple of group
members directing participants into the right direction of the facility and lead to the registration table. At
the registration table we would have participants sign-in and sign a waiver for the event and to get in
contact with them later about the event. When they finished registering they would go inside the facility
and wait for the sessions to start. Once the session started the volunteers just watched and waited for the
event to end and helping them during the session. The program seemed to be very successful during the
first session. Though there were more personnel, the participants who joined were surrounded by
experienced divers and had a good experience with that. Because of the smaller number of participants,
the instructors could focus on them than if there were more people in a the number of participants. The
instructor said he would bring the equipment needed and he was more than prepared with the equipment
and there was nothing needed or missed during the event which allowed the event to run smoothly.
o List any aspects of the event that you believe could be improved and briefly discuss how you would
improve them.
One aspect which needed more emphasis throughout the semester was in the promotion of the Try
SCUBA event. A major factor that resulted in the lack of promotion was due to information slowly being
trickled down to us every week. The lack of information available forced us to push back the creation of
our flyers, we had no website to draw information from or to redirect any interested parties to until six
weeks of class had gone by underutilizing time we could have spent promoting our event, and also there
was no incentive to actively promote the event as it had no impact upon students grades until the last few
days when we were informed of the potential extra credit available, and by then it was already too late for
the majority involved. One solution to mending this problem would be to have the majority of
information available to students as soon as groups are formed so that due dates involving the creation of
promoting materials are not pushed back. Another solution which would have increased participation in
our event would be to give students the option to replace the current requirement in having two hours of
volunteer work outside of class replaced for a grade if students successfully enlisted participants to the
event or if they were able to show that they had actively promoted the event by multiple means to replace
the volunteer work which has no benefit on the success of our event.
o List any aspects of the event that you believe went especially well or you think should absolutely be
incorporated into future events and discuss what was so great about them.
A major component of the Try SCUBA event that attributed to its success and should be incorporated into
future events was the size of the teams working together during each session. Due to the size of each team
we were able to successfully set up the event with time to spare allowing us the opportunity to allocate
jobs and get into position to carry out these jobs before participants had arrived. During the event each
team was quick to assist instructors and participants in the water with their needs removing any downtime
which might have been experienced if the event was understaffed. Another factor that attributed to the
success of the event was due to each group's familiarity amongst each other gained from our time near or
around each other while having group discussions in class. As a result, the two teams were able to easily
transition into one while working the event.
The next several question will ask you to rate the following based on a scale of 1-5, 1 being poor and 5
being excellent. This will better assist Try SCUBA in making improvements for the next event.
5. The information given during the session was successful in teaching you what needed to be done in order
to scuba.
1. Poor 2. Fair 3. Average 4. Good 5. Excellent
The next few question will allow you to give more information about the event. Please be specific and
detailed.
4. Additional comments
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