Sophomore tries his fins at scuba diving

By Chris Lopez-Henriquez

Usually, on a break from school, it is imperative for students to keep their minds off school by resting and having quality time with their families and friends, regardless of the small amounts of homework they may have to do over the break. However, that is no excuse for students not to enjoy their breaks to the fullest. 

One sophomore at East, Larson Parks, has spent past Spring Breaks scuba diving. Parks first gained interest in scuba diving when he was younger, because his “dad had always done it,” and he was about 12-years-old when he first decided that he wanted to go scuba diving for the first time. 

“Through a local dive shop in Mexico.” Parks took part in a “Discovery Dive,” which is something those interested in diving can do without being certified,  as a way of gaining exposure to it.  He found an interest in it and decided, the following summer, to take online classes to get his certification. Certification requires “many weeks of lessons and a lot of time,” Parks said. Nevertheless, this was an obstacle he was willing to tackle—he successfully earned his certification. The following March he went back to Mexico, and, he said, “it was then that I did my very first ‘real’ dive.”  

Parks said that diving has its negatives,  “like when I saw a shark up close for the first time; it was very scary.” He adds, “I’ve found that after scuba diving I get very claustrophobic and get headaches from breathing the compressed oxygen,”

Parks said, “Diving is one of those things where you can’t really know if you like it until you try it.” In his case, even though he has discovered he does not like diving much, he is happy to have tried it because he has had some amazing experiences.  He said, “It’s extremely peaceful, like when we went through a cave system in a coral reef, and when I saw a lot of  the animals.” 

Parks invites others to tackle things that they’ve never done. One never knows if they’ll find a liking for it. Through this decision, Parks had “no regrets in getting that certification.”