Spring Break
Hillsdale students share their deepest fears
Phillip Morgan
Issue date: 10/29/09 Section: Focus
Junior Jon Gregg wasn't always afraid of swimming pools.
At one point he had passed three levels of swim lessons. Unfortunately for Gregg, all those lessons took place in the shallow end.
"In Level Four they threw me in the deep end and I just held on to the edge," Gregg said.
Gregg stayed in Level Four during the next three summers, unable to conquer his fear of deep water. When his younger brother passed him up, he knew it was time to give swimming a rest.
Fortunately, Gregg isn't completely victimized by his fear.
"I'll swim over my head if with ten strokes or so I can touch the ground," he said. "Every once in a while I feel like I'm doing better."
Gregg will swim with the baseball team, but he expresses no interest in facing his fear head on.
"I don't have any plans to overcome it," he said. "But I like to feel like I'm not as bad as I really am."
Sophomore Sally Klarr admits she has a fear of sharks. Her fear is justified - Klarr spends a substantial amount of the time in the predators' domain.
Klarr became a certified deep-water diver when she was on vacation in the Bahamas six years ago. When Klarr was 16 she went on an environmental protection scuba diving trip to the Cayman Islands where she had her first real-life encounter with a shark.
"On the second to last day of diving we were on Little Cayman, and we saw this bull shark 50 feet away," she said. "The shark just cruised by us. We were swimming after him. Now when I think back on it, I was like, 'Why would I ever chase a bull shark?'"
Klarr attributes the fear to the first time she saw the movie "Jaws."
"When I was eight I went to a 'dive-in movie' at my country club," she said. "We'd watch movies in the pool and the movie was 'Jaws.' Ever since then I am really scared of sharks."
Despite her fear, Klarr does not let it hold her back from enjoying the Caribbean Sea.
"It messes with your mind," she said. "I have the fear. I just don't let it hold me back. Then when I'm in the water, I'm fine."
At one point he had passed three levels of swim lessons. Unfortunately for Gregg, all those lessons took place in the shallow end.
"In Level Four they threw me in the deep end and I just held on to the edge," Gregg said.
Gregg stayed in Level Four during the next three summers, unable to conquer his fear of deep water. When his younger brother passed him up, he knew it was time to give swimming a rest.
Fortunately, Gregg isn't completely victimized by his fear.
"I'll swim over my head if with ten strokes or so I can touch the ground," he said. "Every once in a while I feel like I'm doing better."
Gregg will swim with the baseball team, but he expresses no interest in facing his fear head on.
"I don't have any plans to overcome it," he said. "But I like to feel like I'm not as bad as I really am."
Sophomore Sally Klarr admits she has a fear of sharks. Her fear is justified - Klarr spends a substantial amount of the time in the predators' domain.
Klarr became a certified deep-water diver when she was on vacation in the Bahamas six years ago. When Klarr was 16 she went on an environmental protection scuba diving trip to the Cayman Islands where she had her first real-life encounter with a shark.
"On the second to last day of diving we were on Little Cayman, and we saw this bull shark 50 feet away," she said. "The shark just cruised by us. We were swimming after him. Now when I think back on it, I was like, 'Why would I ever chase a bull shark?'"
Klarr attributes the fear to the first time she saw the movie "Jaws."
"When I was eight I went to a 'dive-in movie' at my country club," she said. "We'd watch movies in the pool and the movie was 'Jaws.' Ever since then I am really scared of sharks."
Despite her fear, Klarr does not let it hold her back from enjoying the Caribbean Sea.
"It messes with your mind," she said. "I have the fear. I just don't let it hold me back. Then when I'm in the water, I'm fine."
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