Cal Poly’s Adapted Paddling Program Serving Community Members with Disabilities to Celebrate 25th Anniversary with Ceremony, Kayaking Activities
Contact: Darren Avrit
805-801-2828, davrit@calpoly.edu
SAN LUIS OBISPO, California — Cal Poly’s Adapted Paddling Program will celebrate its 25th anniversary on Saturday and Sunday, May 24 and 25, as part of its weekend activities helping community members with disabilities with kayaking.
The program, launched in the 1999-2000 academic year, brings together Cal Poly faculty and students, community volunteers and local people living with disability so they can learn from each other, foster invaluable bonds on a life-affirming excursion.
“This is a unique program to Cal Poly that’s really special and a testament to the longtime coordinators who have put so much into it,” said Darren Avrit, a Cal Poly faculty member in kinesiology/public health. “It has been their perseverance that would just not let this program go away. The Adapted Paddling Program is extremely valuable and needs to be celebrated because it’s a phenomenal program.”
The Adapted Paddling Program support team helps a participant into the water in Morro Bay
Photo by Joe Johnston | Cal Poly
Adapted paddling involves instructional education in which faculty and students work with participants to adapt kayaks and paddling support to individual needs. Students study proper posture support, including client seating that may include soft or rigid foam padding. They also create ease for clients to get in and out of a kayak.
Over the years, individual participants have included those with Down syndrome, multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy. Clients have included those with quadriplegia, paraplegia, amputation and muscular dystrophy.
Saturday will include kayaking activities involving student supporters and participants with disabilities at the Anderson Aquatic Center located behind Mott Athletic Center on Cal Poly’s campus from 1 to 2 p.m. (with a lunch from noon to 1 p.m.).
On Sunday, a celebration will be held from 9:30 to 10:15 a.m. in Morro Bay to honor longtime program co-coordinators Kevin Taylor, a former Kinesiology/Public Health Department chair; John Lee, a program participant and Cal Poly Disability Resource Center staff member; and Tom Reilly, longtime former owner of Central Coast Kayaks. The event will be held at Tidelands Park, on the south end of the city’s Embarcadero, as the group prepares to launch boats into the bay.
Top Photo : Students and their clients paddle kayaks in Morro Bay as part of Cal Poly’s Adapted Paddling Program (APP) in 2024.
Photo by Aidan Dillon | Cal Poly
