Before the start of the Fall semester, the SWIMMER team hosts a three-day training and orientation program for the incoming cohort of students. Over the course of the three days students meet their fellow cohort members, participate in trainings, complete skill reflections, and familiarize themselves with the history of the Lowell community. The main theme of these activities is to help students orient to the goals of the program and set the stage for the program’s activities during the next two years.

Students on a boat tour within the Lowell canal system. They are listening to a National Park Ranger explain the history of the canal system as they observe a historical flood control device.

Canal Boat Tour of Lowell

During Immersion Week 2022, students were able to participate in a canal tour conducted by the National Park Service at the Lowell National Historical Park. This unique view of the canal system provided historical background of the canal system, its construction, and how the water resources were utilized.

Students listening to a guide at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts. They are standing in the weave room where more than eighty historic power looms from the 1920’s are located.

Boott Cotton Mills Museum

Students participated in a tour of the Boott Cotton Mills on the final day of Immersion Week 2022. During the tour, the cohort was able to learn how more about life within the mill and witness the looms in operation.