By Maria Fernanda Alvarez Angeles, September 22, 2026
The water becomes quieter as students dive beneath the surface of the Bronco Recreational and Intramural Complex pool. With masks covering their faces and regulations supplying each breath, the experience to another world begins, where communication, balance and breathing works differently.
Cal Poly Pomona students can submerge and experience scuba diving made possible through Associated Students Inc. Discover Scuba Diving program, providing students with an introduction to the world of scuba diving without requiring them to own equipment or earlier experience. For $10, students receive equipment and a two-hour experience session at the BRIC pool, where instructors teach foundational skills needed to eventually take their experience into the ocean.
Douglas Hayes, who has worked with ASI for seven years, mentors and develops students to take them on great adventures through the Scuba programming beyond the pool. For students who may have never considered scuba diving before, Brown believes the experience is worth taking the plunge.
Before students can take their skills into the ocean, they must master the first five skills of the program, which include clearing the mask and becoming accustomed to breathing underwater using the regulator. For a scuba diver to function at their best, it is crucial to understand how to use equipment such as the mask, regulator, fins, tank, buoyancy control device and underwater communication techniques.
“We are stewards of the ocean,” Douglas said.
Douglas uses an exercise known as the “Peak Performance Buoyancy Course” to highlight the importance of buoyancy throughout the sessions. The underwater exercise includes a few obstacles that simulate swimming through the ocean. This helped divers have a better understanding of how much space they take underwater to navigate in the ocean. Divers must swim through the obstacles without bumping into them or damaging the sensitive underwater environment. After practicing, a 25-pound weight is added to further challenge divers and increase their critical-thinking.
Although the program focuses on developing important diving skills, Douglas also emphasized the recreational side of scuba diving and the experience it gives students, making the activity more accessible to students who may have never considered trying it before.
“Not only is scuba diving educational, but also recreational,” Douglas said. “Water helps relax individuals and increases creativity. It is an out-of-body experience. Because if you like it in the pool, you will absolutely love it in the ocean.”
The program also provides opportunities for students to become more involved with the Scuba Dive Center. Elle Convento, a biology student at CPP, has been part of the Scuba Dive Center as an assistant since March. Convento helps keep the equipment sanitized while also doing outreach to encourage more students to discover scuba diving.
Convento was influenced by her colleagues to join the program after hearing about the opportunities it offered. As a student studying coastal ecology, she said she saw the program as a way to further develop her knowledge and experience in her studies. She is currently becoming certified and said the affordability of the program is one of the things that makes it stand out.
“This is one of the most unique schools in that aspect because we are one of the very few, if not the only,” Convento said, “that offer certification at such an affordable price to provide a program.”
Students were able to put their skills to the test at the Scuba Games by maneuvering through the Peak Performance Buoyancy Course, swimming through obstacles such as hoops and triangles. Students were given gift cards simply for showing up and taking part, adding a recreational element to the skills-based training.
Among them was Moose Brown, a computer science student who took his marine life interest to the next level and joined the scuba program last semester. He earned his certification over the summer through the school opening the door to diving beyond the campus pool.
“Being certified opens me up to being able to go out and do my own dives, which I think is great,” Moose said.
With ASI’s Catalina Island dive trip approaching in September, students taking part in CPP’s Discover Scuba Diving program are preparing to take the skills they learned in the BRIC pool into the open ocean.
“I would absolutely recommend the program,” Brown said. “The experience is so freeing, I mean, you get to hang out with fish.”
