UOG Sea Grant and Humanities Guåhan promote in-water experience for adults

Marie Auyong, a Sea Grant’s extension educator at the University of Guam, will lead a snorkel intro for adults this coming Sunday, Sept. 17, from 2pm to 4pm at the Agaña swimming pool.

This event helps support Humanities Guåhan and Smithsonian Institution’s exhibit, Hita I Hanom, which explores Guam’s cultural, environmental, and spiritual relationship to water.

UOG Sea Grant will provide all gear for $5, cash only. The session starts at 2pm and goes until 4pm, but participants can stay at the pool until closing time. Due to gear size limits, participants should be 12 years old and older. Participants must reserve spots by emailing auyongm@triton.uog.edu or can call 685-4355 for more information.

Auyong is featured in Hita I Hanom’s digital video project, Kintusi I Hanom: Speaking To Water, which highlights Micronesian voices about the deep cultural importance and meaning of water. Exhibit attendees can view videos of Pacific Islander stories, chants, poetry, and personal narratives at a digital kiosk in the exhibit at the Guam Museum.

In her video, Auyong discusses her concern about peoples’ access to the coast as central to issues of environmental justice, cultural practice, and personal health. This past year, she began introducing people to snorkeling in Guam’s public pools as a way to alleviate fears of water, increase beach safety, and encourage low-cost, in-water activities.

Participants will start standing in the pool’s shallow end and learn how to fit and defog their masks, get comfortable breathing underwater, and practice kicking with fins. There will be professional dive or lifeguard-certified personnel to provide a low participant-instructor ratio.

For more information about the Hita I Hanom-Water/Ways exhibit, visit http://www.humanitiesguahan.org. Visitors to the Guam Museum can check it out from 10am to 5pm every day except Monday.

The National Sea Grant College Program is a partnership between universities and the federal government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency within the Department of Commerce. The Sea Grant network includes more than 3,000 scientists, engineers, public outreach experts, educators, and students. UOG Sea Grant brings the science of coastal resources to Guam’s people as one of 33 programs across the nation. See http://www.cnas-re.uog.edu/ for more information. (PR)