Turning Tides
An entry-level introduction to ocean literacy, water safety, and confidence-building for around 30 participants.
Program Overview
Turning Tides is where a child's relationship with the ocean starts to be built on purpose, not chance. Over three structured phases, kids move from first safe contact with the water to genuine confidence in it, building swimming ability, emotional regulation, and ocean awareness side by side, rather than treating water safety as separate from the SEL work.
Why This Program Exists
Confidence in the water and confidence in yourself are built the same way: through small, safe wins, repeated consistently. Turning Tides exists to give every child that foundation early and properly, before moving into the deeper, longer-term work of Vonk.
How This Program Works
Safety & Confidence
Water orientation, floating, breath control, basic strokes, and naming fear openly rather than pushing through it
Integration & Progression
Confident swimming in varied conditions, surf survival scenarios, and a real endline assessment kids can see themselves in
Positive Youth Development, Throughout
Every phase is built around what's already strong in a child, not what's missing; naming strengths, building agency, and treating each kid as a partner in their own progress, not a project to be fixed
60
Participants Across 2 Cohorts
3
Structured Phases Over 12 Weeks
80%+
Pass Endline Swim Assessment
What's Next
Turning Tides graduates move into Vonk, the year-round program where this foundation becomes something they build on for the next twelve months.
