It is not surprising that children are afraid of water in New Orleans. The mission of Swim for Success, therefore, is to provide lessons to children of families who are otherwise unable to afford lessons, although Swim for Success is as much about children's mental health as their physical health.
Tanvi Shah of Tulane University explained to our team that 45 students currently donate an hour of their time, eight times a semester to build up kids' essential life skills like perseverance and trust. Currently the group uses a 1:1 ratio with the kids, aged four to 18. To be sustainable, however, the fully-operated student organization at Tulane will transition to a 2:1 student-teacher ratio. This has actually been proven to stimulate competition in the kids learning to swim.
Reflecting on this interview, I think it's great that the Tulane students care so much about the future of underprivileged youth in New Orleans. I hope Swim for Success will become more well known so that they can expand their work to make more use of local pools, as they only have access to one of the five pools in the area. Posted by David
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