Kilpatrick Athletic Center launches SwimAmerica Lessons

04:19PM / Saturday, September 07, 2024Print Story | Email Story

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The Kilpatrick Athletic Center (KAC) has partnered with SwimAmerica to launch a series of Fall 2024 swimming lessons to the community.

SwimAmerica, a national learn-to-swim program designed to teach new swimmers endurance and technique, works with coaches and athletic trainers to offer lessons to their communities, including community members beginning their training at the age of three.

"Our goal in SwimAmerica is to teach water safety skills and excellent swimming technique. Every child that participates in our program will come out of it with more knowledge and skills to be safe in the water," said Assistant Aquatics Director John Vitell. "The Kilpatrick Athletic Center is proud to have been offering swim lessons for 26 years — since its opening."

The Kilpatrick houses an eight-lane, 25 yard pool with a minimal level of chlorinated, locally-sourced spring water, which leaves the water soft and without chemical smell or taste, while also making it safe to swim in.

The Kilpatrick will launch lessons for young swimmers hoping to kick the school year off with a splash beginning Tuesday, September 10th. Pre-School learners - ages three and four - will begin Tuesdays, Sept. 10 to Oct. 29, 5:15 - 5:45 p.m; Parent and Infant (seven months to three years old) lessons begin Tuesdays, Sept. 10 to Oct. 29, 4 - 4:30 p.m.

School-age lessons for ages 5 to 13 will begin Tuesdays and Thursdays, Sept. 10 and 12 through Oct. 29 and 31, and will be broken into separate groups: Stations 1-5 will have class from 4:30 p.m and 4:40 - 5:10 p.m. Stations 6-10 will attend from 5:20 - 6:00 p.m. If this is your child's first time in our program, please register them for a stations 1-5 time slot, where the first class will be an evaluation.

Programs consist of seven lessons. Lessons will pause the week of October 1st and 3rd and resume the following week. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to John Vitell at jvitell@simons-rock.edu

Learn more about the Kilpatrick Athletic Center here: https://simons-rock.edu/student-life/campus-experience/kilpatrick-athletic-center/index.php

Tags: bard college, swimming,

iBerkshires.com Text Ads

RIBCO Supply

Check out our great lineup of Boss Plows, and spreaders. 2 Locations Clarksburg & Pittsfield!

ribcosupply.com

rk MILES Blding Materials

Are You Ready to Update Your Home? Start With rk MILES. 4 Locations (800)670-7433

www.rkmiles.com

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

South County Celebrates 250th Anniversary of the Knox Trail

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
06:18PM / Sunday, January 11, 2026

State Sen. Paul Mark carries the ceremonial linstock, a device used to light artillery. With him are New York state Sen. Michelle Hinchey and state Sen. Nick Collins of Suffolk County.

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. —The 250th celebration of American independence began in the tiny town of Alford on Saturday morning.

Later that afternoon, a small contingent of re-enactors, community members and officials marched from the Great Barrington Historical Society to the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center to recognize the Berkshire towns that were part of that significant event in the nation's history.

State Sen. Paul Mark, as the highest ranking Massachusetts governmental official at the Alford crossing, was presented a ceremonial linstock flying the ribbons representing every New York State county that Henry Knox and his team passed through on their 300-mile journey from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston in the winter of 1775-76.

"The New York contingent came to the border. We had a speaking program, and they officially handed over the linstock, transferring control of the train to Massachusetts," said Mark, co-chair of Massachusetts' special commission for the semiquincentennial. "It was a great melding of both states, a kind of coming together."

State Rep. Leigh Davis called Knox "an unlikely hero, he was someone that rose up to the occasion. ... this is really honoring someone that stepped into a role because he was called to serve, and that is something that resonates."

Gen. George Washington charged 25-year-old bookseller Knox with bringing artillery from the recently captured fort on Lake Champlain to the beleaugured and occupied by Boston. It took 80 teams of horses and oxen to carry the nearly 60 tons of cannon through snow and over mountains.

Knox wrote to Washington that "the difficulties were inconceivable yet surmountable" and left the fort in December. He crossed the Hudson River in early January near Albany, crossing into Massachusetts on what is now Route 71 on Jan. 10, 1776. By late January, he was in Framingham and in the weeks to follow the artillery was positioned on Dorchester Heights.

View Full Story