In the Spring, 2024 school semester Mrs. Robinson helped create a water safety program for the K-6 elementary school library at Hale. She processed over 150 book titles related to water safety that were donated to the library for circulation. She highlighted these books for the 6 weeks of the library program. and also set up and coordinated a classroom set of Stewie the Duck for the 1st grade teachers to check out and use to implement the DPCA 1st Grade Curriculum, Water Safety is For You.
As the librarian, Mrs. Robinson also made available a classroom set of Josh the Otter. She meets with every class K-6 for 30 minutes per week. She tailored water safety messaging to students based on age level and sent home water safety information with all of her students. (A-Adults & Drain Covers, B-Barriers, C-Classes for Swimming, C-CPR, C-Coastguard approved lifejackets, C-Canals) Even posing to 5th & 6tgh grade students discussions on what to do if they babysit or watch siblings or cousins. Every student went home with a Water Watcher tag from the National Drowning Prevention Alliance. The program kicked off on April 1st for April Pools' Day and ended on #WearYourLifeJacket to workday. She made 500 paper life jackets out of paper bags and had students decorate them with water safety messaging. The students had an all-school assembly with Mesa Fire and Medical and a Lifeguard from the Ross-Farnsworth YMCA.
First Graders & Kindergarteners who participated in the library program, 1st Grade Water Safety is for You Curriculum, and checked out water safety books were entered into a drawing for prizes, some of which included swimming lessons. Shauna is working with a DPCA board member to write-up a program guide and compile a book list to be made available on the DPCA website. This program guide should be available in early 2025. The program is also being presented at the 2025 National Water Safety Conference presented by the National Drowning Prevention Alliance as a model program for other libraries. Overall, this program was funded by a grant from the Drowning Prevention Coalition of Arizona and a donation from Lizard Pools LLC. Mrs. Robinson put an untold number of hours into implementing the program both on the clock and off the clock. She got volunteers from her family, friends, church, and students' parents to assist which also allowed her the opportunity to educate these volunteers on water safety. While the reach of students was approximately 500 and the staff and volunteers were another 30-40 people, there is no calculating the true reach of how far the water safety information she spread went.