Rolling Away in Mobile Bay

Lily hopes that everyone who participated now has a better understanding of whitewater kayaking.

On September 6, 2014, Lily Fontenot hosted Rolling Away in Mobile Bay. The purpose of the project was to encourage middle school students to participate in the outdoors by teaching them the basics of whitewater kayaking. With the help of her action team, she successfully taught four middle school girls whitewater kayaking. Lily prepared for the event by gathering her action team together. Members of the action team included Mary Josephine Lee, Will Kushner, Taylor Mahoney, and Lucy Moore. All four of the members learned the basics of whitewater kayaking themselves in order to be fully prepared to help teach the kids. During the event, the participants learned many new and interesting things about kayaking. To begin, they learned the names and purpose of all of the gear. Each of the girls had the opportunity to learn how to do a wet exit and successfully did one themselves. They also were taught how to t-rescue and got to practice them. Lastly, the girls were taught one-on-one the steps of rolling a kayak. Each girl eagerly wanted to get their roll down and did not want to stop trying. At the end of the event, there was a heated race between the members of the action team and the participants. After leaving the bay, all of the people who participated went to a local ice cream shop, Mr. Gene’s Beans, to celebrate a fun day. After the event, Lily hopes that everyone who participated now has a better understanding of whitewater kayaking. She hopes that the sport of whitewater kayaking will be spread around southern Alabama to increase kids’ interest in the outdoors.