President of California State University, Northridge, Erika D. Beck took a brief break from campus this summer to visit another kind of classroom — this one on the shores of Castaic Lake.

Recently, Beck toured the CSUN Aquatic Center. It was her first visit to the key teaching facility within the Department of Recreation and Tourism Management, in the College of Health and Human Development.

The Aquatic Center was founded in 1976. The center offers boating and water safety education courses, as well as classes in wakeboarding, water skiing, sailing, windsurfing, kayaking and canoeing. More than 5,000 people a year are served through its credit and non-credit classes and community service programs. Here are some highlights of the visit in photos.

Mechelle Best, interim dean of the College of Health and Human Development (far left), along with faculty and staff members from the Department of Recreation and Tourism Management, welcome CSUN president Erika D. Beck and chief of staff Genevieve Evans Taylor (center) to the CSUN Aquatic Center on Castaic Lake, where students, faculty, staff and alumni can play and take classes in boating, water safety, kayaking, wakeboarding and much more. Photo by David J. Hawkins.

Come sail away: Sailboats and mini catamarans at the CSUN Aquatic Center at Castaic Lake beckon Matador students, faculty and staff. Photo by David J. Hawkins.