Community
According to the College of DuPage’s Institutional Philosophy:
College of DuPage will be a benefit to students and community. The needs of our students and community are central to all we do.
For regular pool users, the pool serves as a vitally important community space. Many of us have made strong bonds to fellow community members, students, alumni, faculty members, and staff members who we likely would not have met without the pool. The networking we’ve engaged in on the pool deck has been both fulfilling interpersonally, and also has helped pool members engage more deeply with both the College of DuPage and District 502.
Public Mission
The mission of the College of DuPage is “to educate, enrich and empower our communities for success.” We believe that the pool meets all of these objectives. Learning to swim is an important (and life-saving) skill. Being a swimmer can be enriching both on an individual level and as part of a team or swimming group. Using the skills learned in a pool is immensely empowering, not only for competitive swimmers, but also for recreational swimmers.
Nowhere in the mission of the college are quantitative factors involved. Can (or should) we put a specific dollar value on our pool? Can we say that our pool fails to meet these goals if a particular number of swimmers don’t use the pool?
Individual Enrichment
The College of DuPage pool provides a safe, welcoming, and encouraging environment for swimmers to practice their skills. The swimmers who use our pool range from brand new swimmers to triathletes to pool walkers to open water swimmers to competitive swimmers. No matter what your skill level is, or what your goals are when you step on the pool deck, the pool is there to meet your needs and the people who are there will be encouraging and supportive.
Monetary
The Albert Zamsky Natatorium at the College of DuPage is a state-of-the-art pool constructed between 2012-2014. This makes our pool a mere 12-14 years old, well under the expected lifetime of the pool. District 502 taxpayers funded the pool’s construction and continue to fund the pool’s maintenance and upkeep. Eliminating a perfectly viable swimming pool is not financially prudent.