Carolina Swim Clinic is fulfilling a two-fold mission for the Chapel Hill community by providing swim lessons to children from low-income families and English tutoring to their parents.
The student organization currently provides swim lessons to around 75 children each week. The kids are paired in small groups based on skill level with a student volunteer who offers individualized attention and feedback.
Carolina Swim Clinic presidents Bronson Boucher and Corey Ochs said the swim lessons the organization provides are incredibly important to the kids and their families because they likely would not learn how to swim without them.
“The disparity between income level and kids’ ability to swim at that age is tremendous,” Boucher said. “If you can afford it, you get some lessons and you learn how to swim. If you can't, and these are typically people in minority populations, they don't learn how to swim because their parents never learned how to swim and nobody in that cycle ever had access to it."
Mario Rubio, whose three children are all taking swimming lessons through Carolina Swim Clinic, said the clinic has made a big impact on his children’s lives. His son, 10, already knew the basics of swimming before he started at the clinic, but he has been able to perfect his skills this semester. His two daughters, who are 8 and 4, are just beginning to learn to swim.
Rubio was translated by Lucy Thames, a volunteer with Carolina Swim Clinic.
“It’s important because it’s not just teaching my children how to swim, it’s teaching them to have confidence in themselves,” Rubio said.
Julia Lopez has two children who are taking swim lessons, and she agreed that Carolina Swim Clinic has helped her children to have more confidence. She said they are always excited to go to their swim lessons on Sundays.
Lopez was also translated by Thames.
