Program Details
Swim For Charlie is partnering with North Carolina elementary schools and area aquatic centers to transport 2nd graders during the school day to the pool for water safety/swimming instruction.
Swim for Charlie eliminates the primary barriers that keep kids from being water safe — cost, access to pools, and transportation — by building and executing the program based on creating collaborative partnerships with schools, pools and volunteers.
We conduct eight pool sessions over two weeks. Each pool session consists of a 10-minute water safety talk and the introduction of an aquatic career, followed by 40 minutes of pool instruction.
The program uses the NC Healthful Living Standards and is conducted as part of the Physical Education curriculum.
Long Term Goals
During the past two academic school years (2023-2024, and 2024-2025), Swim for Charlie added four new host pools to our program: Hope Valley Country Club, Durham Parks and Recreation’s Edison Johnson Aquatic Center, Duke University’s Brodie Aquatic Center, and Jewish for Good’s Jewish Community Center pool. As a result, Swim for Charlie can now server over 1,200 students.
To further improve and grow our existing programs in Durham Public Schools and Orange County Schools it is crucial that we continue to identify and develop pool partners with facilities close to our participating schools, thereby decreasing travel time for our students.
To support the continued expansion of the program, Swim for Charlie is growing its resouces to add more North Carolina school districts and aquatic facilities as partners. We consider the unique assets and challenges of each new partnership we seek, and always prioritize including schools with the greatest need.
Our goal is to expand access to the Swim for Charlie program statewide to any NC Public school’s 2nd-grade classroom with students who are not water safe, and to continue our efforts for the long term, over decades, creating a profound positive impact on youth lives, the public health, while aligning with Charlie’s broad vision.
Proven Model
Swim for Charlie duplicated the highly successful model of partnering with schools as first proven in Guilford County, NC. The Greensboro Aquatic Center in partnership with Guilford County Schools created an outstanding Learn to Swim program, and has been operating since 2011. They graduate ~2000 students a year.
If you are an NC school district interested in information on bringing Swim for Charlie to your 2nd grade students, please contact Tanyss Mason at Tanyss.Mason@swimforcharlie.org
Partnerships
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