Levi Nash Potts: A celebration of life

/in /by

WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

Due to generous donations, we’ve been able to give away FIVE SAFE Swim Scholarships in memory of Levi Potts instead of just one.

Congratulations to the following parents:

– Sara Russell, of Kennett
– Candace Johnson, of Brookland
– Heather Schrader, of Lake City
– Casey Dawson, of Lepanto
– Jessica Rickman, of Bono

Thank you so much to all of you who have donated and entered our giveaway! We have so many more opportunities coming up soon. Please continue to follow us for more.

If you missed out on this opportunity and have a need for financial assistance on swimming lessons, please fill out our scholarship form at http://www.safeswimfoundation.com/scholarship/

If you didn’t win and would still like to register for lessons this summer, please text us at (870) 206-0069 and we will get you on the schedule. Time slots are going fast, so act quickly!

—ORIGINAL POST—

Fishy Family, we’re celebrating the life of Levi Nash Potts this month. For those of you new to our family, Levi lost his life in a drowning accident in 2019. He would’ve been 8 years old this month.

In his memory, The SAFE Swim Foundation is giving away a survival swim scholarship at The School of Yaya’s Fishes.

***Register for the scholarship here: https://forms.gle/vciyjHbtcFDaTFtw8 ****

Help us celebrate his birthday! If you’re able to contribute to help us give away even MORE scholarships and save lives, you can make a donation at SAFESwimFoundation.com/donate.

Let’s continue to work at making our community a SAFE Swim Zone!

Learn more about Levi Potts on Love What Matters: https://bit.ly/37DWKa3

—-

ABOUT THE SCHOOL OF YAYA’S FISHES

Our goal at The School of Yaya’s Fishes is for babies, toddlers, children and the child at heart to develop mental and physical skills that promote safety in and around water.

—-

ABOUT SAFE SWIM FOUNDATION

The SAFE Swim Foundation (Swim And Float in Emergencies) supports and promotes drowning prevention, including survival swim training for infants, toddlers and children of various backgrounds.

—-

O-FISH-CIAL RULES

The entry period for the 2024 Levi Nash Potts Scholarship Giveaway runs from Monday, April 22, 2024 at 8 a.m. until Thursday, April 25, 2024, at 10 a.m.

How to enter:

To enter, parents and legal guardians will the form available on this website and The School of Yaya’s Fishes Facebook page.

Registrants may enter to win once per family.

The prize:

The prize is ONE survival swim scholarship to go toward SAFE Swim 1 lessons at The School of Yaya’s Fishes. The value of the prize is $500, based typical cost of four weeks’ worth of SAFE Swim 1 lessons.

The cost of any additional weeks needed to reach SAFE Swim 1 graduation will be covered by The School of Yaya’s Fishes. No additional payments are needed until the student goes into SAFE Swim 2 lessons. After SAFE Swim 1 graduation, the winning family will be required to pay for any lessons that they may choose to register for at the usual cost of $25/lesson.

If fewer than four weeks are needed to achieve SAFE Swim 1 graduation, the remaining balance of the SAFE Swim 1 scholarship is forfeited. No money will be paid to make up the remainder of the balance.

For SAFE Swim 1, Survival Swim Training sessions are every day Monday through Friday in 10-to-15-minute sessions for the length of the student’s training. While the average length of training is four weeks, this timeline may vary, based on each student’s rate of improvement and task comprehension.

The drawing:

The contest winner will be drawn after 10 a.m. on Thursday, April 25, 2024, at 10 a.m. The winner will be announced and contacted by either a text message or a Facebook private message before the close of business that day. Upon contact, a representative of The School of Yaya’s Fishes will work with the winning guardian to schedule lessons.

The winners of 2024 Levi Nash Potts Scholarship Giveaway will be selected at random from the pool of registrations.

Who can win:

Ultimately, the winning scholarship recipient must be below the age of 18 and able to crawl to qualify.

Only one winner is permitted per household within 60 days after a household has a winner.

The School of Yaya’s Fishes and SAFE Swim Foundation restricts winners to the immediately serviceable area – within the Arkansas counties of Clay, Randolph, Lawerence, Greene, Craighead, Mississippi, Jackson, Poinsett, Cross, and Crittenden; and the Missouri counties of Dunklin, Pemiscot, and New Madrid.  Any means of transportation to redeem the scholarship will not be provided. The responsibility of cost to travel rests solely with the scholarship winner. Neither Terri (Yaya) Mommsen, nor a member of her Staff, will travel to provide lessons to a winning family. Survival Swim Training sessions must be performed at The School of Yaya’s Fishes facility.

No purchase is necessary. Prizes are not redeemable or transferable for cash. Scholarships and paid lessons are not retroactive and cannot cover the already-paid tuition of a student who has previously been through the program. The School of Yaya’s Fishes and SAFE Swim Foundation shall have no further responsibility in connection with the scholarship if the scholarship winner, for any reason, cannot or decides not to use any of the survival swim lessons provided.

Yaya and student celebrate after toddler swim lessons

Toddler swim lessons are worth it

/in /by

By now, you’ve probably figured out that we offer toddler swim lessons. I’ve heard the service we offer get called everything from essential life-saving skills to torture and waterboarding. 

I get it. To onlookers – sometimes strangers and sometimes family – infant/toddler swim lessons appear cruel and uncalled for. The new student is “taken” from their parent and introduced to the pool, many times kicking and screaming. This is just the first of many scary events over the next few weeks.

Next, the precious little one hears the call to action – “Ready…GO!” and suddenly, these little ones grow eight arms and ten legs. They try to cling on to anything they can latch onto to no avail. The instructor hears them take a quick breath to scream and that’s the cue. Into the water, face first they go, only to be lifted out of the water by another strange person, who then repeats the process.

Then, they go onto their backs. The screams that were stifled by the water at first are full tilt now. What child likes to be put on their back in the water. Really? And then they’re brought back the next day for more?

To the average person, that doesn’t sound like much fun or even necessary. Maybe even unsettling. But, listen to the stories from the parents who brought their children here in the first place. One momma told me the story of the day she was working around her pool. She said she looked up to see that her 3-year-old had stepped off into the water over her head.

This could have ended in disaster, but the mother stood amazed as she watched her precious little one put her newly learned, life-saving skills into action and reach safety on her own.

That’s why we do what we do at The School of Yaya’s Fishes.

Have you ever heard a child drown? No, and you probably won’t. Witnesses of children falling into a pool have said that all they heard was a soft “plunk” and then nothing. No sound at all. Drowning is silent, and it could happen anywhere – even in a bathtub.

The next time you are deciding whether to invest in infant/toddler swim lessons, know that they are worth it. Remember this: If they are screaming, they are breathing.

Here’s to your little one earning their fins!

Yaya

Help us share these vital survival lessons with other children in Northeast Arkansas by donating to the scholarship fund, made possible by the SAFE Swim Foundation.