Leaving school for Spring Break, Math teacher LeaAnne Hotton found herself surrounded by a whole different kind of school. Unlike the swarms of students that fill the halls of South, Hotton was surrounded by schools of squid, fish and many more underwater creatures during her scuba diving trip in the Cayman Islands.

According to Hotton, she had always wanted to be scuba-certified, but waited until four years ago to do it because she had been nervous to take the plunge.

“I just showed up [to a certification class] one day to see what it was all about and I fell in love with [diving],” Hotton said.

Similarly to Hotton, senior Jake Owczarek enjoyed diving immediately.

“My favorite part of diving is how alien the underwater world is,” Owczarek said. “[It is like] exploring space or another planet.”

Although Hotton has had many great experiences while diving, she recalls her first year as being very difficult.

“I was still trying to figure out my buoyancy,” Hotton said. “I battled this for most of a year-just getting used to [diving]. But once you get down somewhere and you are diving, looking, seeing and just breathing underwater, it is so awesome.”

Senior Juliana Minasian has also enjoyed her experiences scuba-diving but also recalls one dive that was not as enjoyable.

“We did a night dive, and I am terrified of the dark,” Minasian said. “So I had a flashlight […] but it went out. I was hyperventilating and I used up half my tank [of air].”

Other than that experience, Minasian feels that scuba-diving is a wonderful community sport and plans to continue diving.

Similarly, Hotton enjoys the scuba diving community and hopes more people will get certified so they too can experience it.

“I would like to encourage all kids to think about getting certified,” Hotton said. “It is a phenomenal activity to do; you get to see things you never would [have the opportunity to see].”