On Sunday morning, August 23, 2015 Middle College at Skyline College student Andrea Flores dove into the San Francisco Bay to compete in the Touch Alcatraz ‘n Go annual open water race. She started at the Aquatic Park beach and swam round-trip 2.5 miles to Alcatraz Island in the time of 1:06:50 taking second place in the all-ages coed competition! An open water race has no lane lines, walls, or starting blocks to dictate what it takes to win. It requires swimming strength along with the ability to navigate a winning course against complex currents. This was Andrea’s very first competitive race, to prepare she swam two miles a day, six days a week for a month and monitored her diet, eating proteins, fruits and vegetables. When asked about future open water competition, the sixteen year old replied, “In the future want to swim from the Golden Gate Bridge to the San Francisco Bay Bridge, the English Channel between Britain and France, and the Strait of Magellan between the tip of South America and Tierra del Fuego.”
Middle College students take a combination of core high school courses and college courses to receive their high school diploma plus achieve one or more of the following three goals: earning a career technical education certificate; earning units toward an associate degree; and earning transferable units to a four-year institution of higher education. The Middle College main office is located in Building 2, Room 2304.
Article by Raymond Jones
