Stay-Focused conducts second program!

Following up on the very successful launch of Stay-Focused in March, 2004, Stay-Focused conducted its second program in June - another smashing success! The program participants were Emily Seelenfreund, 13, who has osteogenesis imperfecta, and, Chelsea Bilodeau, 15, who has spina bifida..

The Stay-Focused Experience

As highly-motivated participants in our second program, Emily and Chelsea built upon the momentum created by Mariya Redden and Jaclyn Lanzetti in March, and worked through their SCUBA diving certification brilliantly. Both were enthusiastic learners, full of energy, and eager to take it all in. Each day brought new challenges and more laughter and learning. Emily and Chelsea embraced the opportunity to become certified SCUBA divers - they stayed focused and achieved their goal.

Leading the Program

Leading the program were Stay-Focused Founder/President Roger Muller; Program Manager and Dive Instructor Richard Smart; Dive Instructor Marty Banks; Board Member and Educational Advisor Mark Nevins, PhD; Medical Advisor Dr. JenFu Cheng, of Children’s Specialized Hospital in Mountainside, NJ; and, Trisha Yurochko, a coach and Children’s Specialized Hospital’s Marketing Coordinator.

DIVER

As part of the Stay-Focused curriculum, divers assigned motivational words to the acronym, DIVER. Here is what they created:

D   Drive
I    Invigorating
V   Victory
E   Empowering
R   Results

Emily and Chelsea were indeed driven to succeed and overcame all sense of fear and apprehension in doing so. SCUBA diving is indeed an invigorating sport and we all felt energized, yet relaxed at the end of each day. Emily and Chelsea were victorious in successfully completing their PADI Open Water certification. Having done so, both came away from the Stay-Focused experience feeling empowered. And, at the end of the day, it's all about results, which were excellent for both Emily and Chelsea.

Thanks for Your Support

As an early-stage, nonprofit organization, we are thrilled with our success thus far and know it’s important to thank those who have contributed to the initial success of Stay-Focused. While too many individuals and organizations have lent support for us to list all of them, I do want to thank everyone who has embraced the program for helping us get Stay-Focused off the ground. From an organizational perspective, many thanks to Booz Allen Hamilton for its ongoing support, and to Dogmatic for its creative input and commitment to Stay-Focused. And, in Grand Cayman, hats off to Chris Brandson, Chris Brandson Underwater Imaging, for creating a spectacular DVD of our June trip; many thanks to the Courtyard Marriott for continuing to provide excellent support for our program, Red Sail Sports, our diving operations partner, and Decker's, for its generous support in hosting our celebration banquet.

Roger Muller
Founder/President