Spring Break
Scuba degree makes a splash at Texas Wesleyan University
'Recreation dive management' minor is a first among Texas schools
By: Paul Bourgeois
Issue date: 5/18/04 Section: News
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Kyle Beck dives into his college studies in an unexpected way.
Beck, 24, is the first Texas Wesleyan University student to complete the curriculum for a minor degree in scuba diving.
Technically, it's "recreational dive management," said Pam Rast, chairwoman of the department of exercise and sports studies at Wesleyan.
On Saturday, Beck was awarded a bachelor of science degree in exercise and sports technology. He's looking for work as an athletic trainer at a high school, college or for a professional sports team.
Becoming a dive instructor is his fallback.
"We're not aware of any other school in Texas that offers a minor in scuba diving," said Robert Biggs, who teaches swimming and, now, scuba. A few schools around the country do, most of them in Florida or California.
It's unusual given that Wesleyan is a relatively small university with only 1,300 undergraduate students. The school is also a couple of hundred miles from open water.
Beck said his interest in diving didn't really start until his graduation from Fort Worth's Paschal High. A friend was working to become a certified dive master, and it seemed like fun, Beck said.
"I tried it, and I fell in love," Beck said. "It's very relaxing, and the aquatic life is awesome to see."
Since his post-high school days, he's made more than 200 dives in places like Cozumel and Grand Cayman and in not-so-grand places like an abandoned rock quarry in Huntsville, Texas.
He is certified as a dive master, which means he's had extensive training in all phases of diving, including diver physiology, underwater navigation, deep water and night diving, decompression, and search and rescue.
Although Beck has completed the required courses, he won't officially receive the minor degree in scuba. The minor program wasn't offered until the fall of 2003, after Beck had started.
But he does have the distinction of being a scuba pioneer at Wesleyan.
"He's the first one that's completed the criteria. He's the one that allowed us to pioneer the concept of recreational dive management," Biggs said.
Swimming teacher Bill Rucker said he started offering scuba as a sports elective in 1993 and found that it opened people to new worlds and literally changed their lives.
Rucker said it's a good minor for people who "want something different to fall back on."
"It's a very marketable skill," he said.
___
(c) 2004, Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Kyle Beck dives into his college studies in an unexpected way.
Beck, 24, is the first Texas Wesleyan University student to complete the curriculum for a minor degree in scuba diving.
Technically, it's "recreational dive management," said Pam Rast, chairwoman of the department of exercise and sports studies at Wesleyan.
On Saturday, Beck was awarded a bachelor of science degree in exercise and sports technology. He's looking for work as an athletic trainer at a high school, college or for a professional sports team.
Becoming a dive instructor is his fallback.
"We're not aware of any other school in Texas that offers a minor in scuba diving," said Robert Biggs, who teaches swimming and, now, scuba. A few schools around the country do, most of them in Florida or California.
It's unusual given that Wesleyan is a relatively small university with only 1,300 undergraduate students. The school is also a couple of hundred miles from open water.
Beck said his interest in diving didn't really start until his graduation from Fort Worth's Paschal High. A friend was working to become a certified dive master, and it seemed like fun, Beck said.
"I tried it, and I fell in love," Beck said. "It's very relaxing, and the aquatic life is awesome to see."
Since his post-high school days, he's made more than 200 dives in places like Cozumel and Grand Cayman and in not-so-grand places like an abandoned rock quarry in Huntsville, Texas.
He is certified as a dive master, which means he's had extensive training in all phases of diving, including diver physiology, underwater navigation, deep water and night diving, decompression, and search and rescue.
Although Beck has completed the required courses, he won't officially receive the minor degree in scuba. The minor program wasn't offered until the fall of 2003, after Beck had started.
But he does have the distinction of being a scuba pioneer at Wesleyan.
"He's the first one that's completed the criteria. He's the one that allowed us to pioneer the concept of recreational dive management," Biggs said.
Swimming teacher Bill Rucker said he started offering scuba as a sports elective in 1993 and found that it opened people to new worlds and literally changed their lives.
Rucker said it's a good minor for people who "want something different to fall back on."
"It's a very marketable skill," he said.
___
(c) 2004, Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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