CLARION – For 10 young participants in Clarion, last Friday evening’s Remake Learning Days program offered more than a first look at scuba diving. It offered a chance to try something unfamiliar, build confidence in the water and imagine new possibilities for the future.
Larry Klinger, executive director of the Pittsburgh-based foundation, said the event was designed to give about 10 to 15 youth an introduction to scuba equipment, basic underwater skills and the science behind diving. Participants were expected to spend about an hour in and around the pool learning how the gear works and practicing in the water.
Klinger said the foundation works with schools, agencies and community organizations to connect young people with STEM-related career paths through scuba diving. He described diving as a natural fit for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics because it involves buoyancy, problem-solving, teamwork and technical equipment.
Beyond pool instruction, Klinger said the organization also introduces students to related careers such as medicine, marine biology, public safety diving, underwater welding and coral reef restoration. He pointed to current work with students in the Punxsutawney School District as an example of how scuba can open doors to career exploration and hands-on learning.
For student participant Lex Welsh, a Remake Learning Days youth ambassador, the session marked a first experience with scuba diving. That sense of anticipation — wondering what it would feel like to breathe and move underwater for the first time — captured the excitement many young people bring to opportunities they may not otherwise get to experience.
The event reflected the broader goal of Remake Learning Days: helping young people discover what they are capable of through hands-on experiences. In Clarion, that meant turning a pool into a place of encouragement, curiosity and possibility — where a first breath underwater could also become the start of a new dream.
Across the region, community pools are disappearing, and with them go familiar gathering places, swim lessons and early chances for children to feel comfortable in the water. For educators and nonprofit leaders, that loss is about more than recreation — it is about preserving access, confidence and opportunity for young people who might otherwise be left out.
For one local program, the answer has been to focus on the communities ready to build something new. Through a Moonshot Grant from Remake Learning, organizers are working with 12 students in the Punxsutawney School District, guiding them from having never tried scuba diving to becoming certified divers.
The experience is designed to be bigger than a lesson in the water. On a recent field trip, the students visited Allegheny General Hospital, where they stepped inside a hyperbaric chamber and saw firsthand how diving can intersect with medicine. The goal was not just to introduce scuba, but to show how underwater skills can open doors to a surprising range of professions.
From there, the students visited a local dive shop, where they were introduced to commercial diving, underwater welding, and public safety diving. They handled equipment, asked questions, and got a closer look at the tools and training behind each path. The trip ended at the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium, where conversations with marine biologists, mammal trainers, and other professionals helped tie everything together: scuba diving is not only a skill, but a gateway into the growing blue economy.
Klinger said his own interest in scuba diving began at age 16 in central Pennsylvania, when fundraising through the Boy Scouts helped pay for his certification in Lock Haven. What started as a teenage curiosity eventually grew into a decades-long career in diving and instruction, including travel around the world and leadership of the Curious Minds Dive Foundation.
He said that experience now shapes the foundation’s work with schools, nonprofits and government agencies. In Punxsutawney, for example, 12 students are working toward scuba certification and preparing for a Florida trip focused on marine biology and coral reef restoration — an effort Klinger said shows how diving can become a pathway to science-based learning and career exploration.