Various species of fish. Crystalline waters. Underwater, senior Ella Hagemann is at peace. With her scuba gear, Hagemann dives into the world of the unknown.
After a trip to the Bahamas with her family, Hagemann decided to pick up scuba diving.
“My mom… used to actually work with a scuba certification place and help other people get certified. So she’s always told me about how it was just like the best time in her life just scuba diving in Florida and just being in the water in general,” Hagemann said. “I did the intro to scuba in the Bahamas, which is like a crazy, crazy, experience, especially for my first time.”
Hagemann also recounts her first impression of diving, and how it was a bit unsettling at first.
“The first time I went, how freaked out I was at the beginning,” Hagemann said.“I have a picture of me on the back of the boat about to go into the water and like my eyes were so wide. And I was really freaked out because I just really didn’t know what I was doing, and I was kinda thrown into it at first.”
However, Hagemann soon overcame her fears. From her introduction to scuba diving, she decided to continue onwards with receiving her certification.
“I signed up with… a scuba organization that like they get you certified and they get your open water dives and stuff like that,” Hagemann said. “So first, what…we did in-class training where we would just kinda learn about… the dangers of scuba and then how… to make it less dangerous and then stuff like that. And then we did pool dives.”
After practicing her skills in the pool with a scuba tank, Hagemann moved towards open water diving in a query. There, after some practice, Hagemann would later graduate with her scuba diving certificate. Even now, Hagemann said like scuba diving has opened her up to many differing perspectives.
“It’s opened up a lot of like new things to me… but the way I look at it is, the world is like 70 percent water, so that’s 70 percent more of the world that I could explore,” Hagemann said.
Within the walls of Wando, Hagemann is not the only one to enjoy the nature of scuba diving.
Marine Science and Advanced Placement Environmental Science teacher Jessica Anderson shares a similar passion.
“I started when I was a sophomore in college,” Anderson said. “I took it as a PE class… it was a lot cheaper to get certified that way as opposed to doing it like, just through a dive shop.”
From taking that class in college, Anderson went on to be an intern at Disney using her new certification. Prior to receiving the position, she had to go through an application process of 1500 people. Yet, according to her, it was worth it.
“I got to scuba dive every day, feeding fish. We did a lot of cleaning the fake coral that was in the exhibit,” Anderson said. “It was just a really a fun experience to be able to interact with the guests and be able to dive with the animals every day and feel like you had a big part in taking care of them and feeding them, and just keeping the exhibit in good working order and looking nice for everybody that was there to visit.”
Similarly to Hagemann and Anderson, wrestling coach Adam Schneider shares a passion for scuba. He originally began diving in 2006.
“I’m kind of an adrenaline junkie. So, anything that has to do with that, I enjoy,” Schneider said. “But I like scuba diving because
you don’t necessarily need anybody else with you. You can just go, and it’s a completely different world when you get down there.”
Schneider also recounts that his favorite spots to dive are on vacation, especially in waters that are more crystalline than Charleston. However, one of his most memorable dives was at night.
“One of the best places I dove was probably in Barbados because I did… one night-time[dive],” Schneider said. “A lot of people ask me if there’s actually anything to see at night, and the ocean really comes alive at night, especially with your torch or your light. You can see fish that are like rainbow color to luminous and it’s pretty cool.”
Like Hagemann and Anderson, Schneider loves the exploration aspect of diving.
“And it’s kinda cool just to see what’s going on with the surface of the water, and just kinda all the things that you can see, whether it’s plant life, animal life, whether it’s a wreck that you’re diving, whatever it may be,” Schneider said