BRADLEY BEACH — Students from Manasquan High School’s Center for Learning Independence program traded their backpacks for surfboards on Friday, June 13, and spent their school day at Kent Avenue beach to enjoy the sun and charge some big waves with the help of volunteers from Summertime Surf.
The day on the beach is part of Summertime Surf’s annual give back program that invites the students to learn to surf and catch a few waves, an opportunity rarely afforded to some of the students.
Kim Murin, transition coordinator for the CLI program, expressed her students’ love for the event, noting that, as children with special needs, they don’t generally enroll in the surf camps that other local kids often attend.
“Summertime Surf has been great for us. They volunteer their time and bring us out here. It’s a partnership we are happy to be involved in,” Murin told The Coast Star. “This is a really great way for them to feel comfortable, lots of cheering them on. The students are motivated and encouraged to be out in the water. Kids, parents, everybody involved, this is our favorite day of the year.”
The Center for Learning Independence is a special education program at Manasquan High School focused on community-based and work-based learning for students with diverse abilities, Murin said.
After meeting at Manasquan High School, students and teachers packed into a school bus and traveled to Bradley Beach to spend the day in the water and on the sand at Kent Avenue.
The beach day began with an introduction and demonstration by Summertime Surf founder Shaun McGrath and fellow volunteers, who demonstrated to the students the method of popping up and riding a wave. Students were then paired with helpers and were off to the water to soak up the sun and join the lineup.
McGrath told The Coast Star, “To me, personally, I heard a quote a long time ago, ‘The teacher needs the student as much as the student needs the teacher.’ It’s just a great humble reminder of how lucky we are to have this awesome job. Giving back to this group is a really easy example of just how blessed we are to be able to share something that we love with the community.”
At around 9:30 a.m. the students took to the Atlantic Ocean to take on some moderate-sized June waves. Summertime Surf volunteers swam alongside the Manasquan students, waiting for the right wave to send the eager students on. When a suitable wave rolled in, Summertime Surf volunteers would push the student into the wave, either riding it with them or sending them on their way alone.
Manasquan High School student Nicholas Walsifer threw up shakas and howled with Summertime Surf volunteers as he caught some of the best waves of his young surfing career. After a few hours, Walsifer was inquiring about becoming a Summertime Surf instructor after catching the wave of the day, with a proper claim to match his epic ride.
“I stood up, I’m a natural. It’s really choppy but there’s some waves out there,” Walsifer said. “I really like surfing a lot.”
For Summertime Surf instructors like Declan Coyle, assisting in affording the opportunity to kids who may not otherwise have a chance to get in the ocean is what makes the annual event worthwhile.
“It’s a fantastic feeling to be able to help these kids out. You just see the smile on their face as they’re coming into shore and you just feel that joy yourself. I love the give back week; we try to be as active in the community as possible,” Coyle told The Coast Star.
After surfing, the Center for Learning Independence students spent the rest of their Friday under the sun on the beach, enjoying their school day on Kent Avenue.
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