Photos by Brenna Elmore
The Carolina Swim Clinic, headed by co-presidents and students Lexi Hawks and Bronson Boucher, offers free swimming lessons to children who may not otherwise be able to afford them. When Hawks was a first year, she worked with programs in the area to identify low-income families, and now almost 150 children take advantage of the lessons. In the beginning, only families from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area were served, but now some drive over 40 minutes to take advantage of the opportunity. “The main mission behind Carolina Swim Clinic is to educate and empower families who otherwise wouldn’t have access to swim lessons to prevent adverse accidents,” Hawks said.
The program also offers an English language clinic for the parents, as the majority of the families are Spanish-speaking. Rosaria Rodriguez of Hillsborough said she wasn’t sure exactly how much her children have learned, because she spends each week learning English. “We serve a lot of Hispanic families that don’t have access to swim lessons just because of the language barrier,” Hawks said. “And it’s hard to entrust your child with someone that can’t speak their language at all.”
