The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Brenda McMahon of Bluevale is teamed up with Audra Ermeil at the Breithaupt Centre pool. The program also involves volunteers from the community. Here, Chris Heron heips Chris Mcâ€" Tavish. Wendy McCrearf’ Chronicle Staff A weekly swim class taught at Breithaupt Centre has turned out to be a_rewarding experience for not only the students, but their teachers as well. The trainable mentally retarted (TMR) children who attend Queen Elizabeth school, go for swimming lessons every Friday morning to be taught by students in the Basic Level program at Bluevale Collegiate. "It‘s been such a rewarding experience for my kids," said Pat Fox, Basic Level teacher at Bluevale. ‘"They learn more in a day here than I could teach them in four years." Students in Fox‘s program usually come from bad situations like broken homes or failure in school. ‘"Most that come in have a story to tell," said Fox. However, he said, most of them say they thought they had problems until they saw the TMR stuâ€" dents. â€" Bluevale‘s Basic Level program is similar to that of a coâ€"op situation where, during part of the program, students must serve a work term. _ Fox épproached Nancy Chittick, a primary TMR teacher at Queen Elizabeth, to ask it the teachers would like volunteer students. Buddy system WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 196 At®first, ‘"some teachers wanted them, but weren‘t sure what to do with them," Chittick said. ‘"‘Now they (teachers) ask when are they (stuâ€" dents) coming. They‘re a real help." A maximum of 20 to 30 TMR students are taught in the pool. All are matched with a "buddy"‘, be it a Bluevale student or one of the volunteers at Breitâ€" haupt. The process begins with a visit to Queen Elizabeth school where Fox‘s students get a chance to see who they‘ll be working with, should they decide they want to do this. ‘"‘They‘re not forced," Fox said. v()‘r;c_e tl;e;"g_eâ€"tii-fivolved, though, "they‘re hooked and they give 1000 per cent," he said. "They can‘t wait to get back." io Fox said, ‘"Three years ago, Cindy (Greve) would no sooner think of helping someone than flying to the moon. Now look at her‘"‘ Fox said she is now considering a community college program in childhood education. ‘Theâ€"y't(‘xâ€")kv it on with a spirit that I just couldn‘t imagine,"" he said. _ S-h:;'lrle (f;)})l}ré‘Bluevale student said, "I love it! We all do. It‘s so good for them (TMR studAep\ts).“ _ Charlotte Craven, a teacher‘s assistant at Queen Elizabeth summed it up, "It‘s an excellent program and every school should use it." BCI student Sherrie Cook, above, tailks things over with her ‘buddy.‘ Left, Queen Elizabeth teacher Peter Hawrylenko dries Chris McTavish‘s hair. Richard O‘ ‘Brien photos