June 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 75

SwimATX is offered free of charge and
assistance is available for students who
lack the necessary equipment, like suits
and goggles.

The students apparently had such a
good experience that many of the
14-year-olds re-enrolled the following semester so they could earn their
lifeguard certification.
Each of the organizations is heavily invested in making the program as
convenient as possible for the students
to participate. SwimATX is offered
free of charge, but most of the students
don't have the necessary swimwear or
gear. The YMCA fundraises and solicits for items like goggles, swim suits
and swim caps so the students don't
have to worry about investing in those
items, and they are given a red suit to
use as their uniform once they're hired
on by either agency.
As far as the actual instruction
goes, the YMCA and PARD each
provide two instructors per class and
then PARD provides the instructors
to teach the lifeguarding course at
the end of the semester. The schools
provide transportation to and from
the training courses and adjust the
students' schedules for finals week to
allow them to take their exams early
so they can spend the full week doing
lifeguard training during school hours.
The schools have also allowed both
agencies to visit students at school
to conduct hiring activities such as
applications and interviews. " We've
had some really dedicated teachers
from both schools who motivate the
students, get them excited about coming to class and go out of their way to
assist the students with navigating the
hiring processes, " adds Simmons.
Every effort is made to keep the students together and moving forward
during the course of the semester.
This is sometimes difficult, however,
because many of them are in college
prep courses and are adding and dropping classes several weeks into the
semester. Having a good ratio of in	

structors to students allows for some
flexibility. Late-joining students can be
grouped with other students of similar
skill level, and, depending on how fast
or slow they're progressing, students
can be moved from one group to another. In addition, to help the students
quickly build strength and stamina,
they have free pool access during the
semester so they can get practice in
outside of class time.
Recruiting qualified lifeguards is
the ultimate goal of the SwimATX
program with the measure of success
being the number of students who
complete the lifeguarding course and
are hired on by either PARD or the
YMCA. However, a secondary, but
equally important goal is ensuring
that the students learn how to swim
or improve their ability to do so, gaining a lifelong skill that allows them
to safely enjoy any aquatic environment. According to the CDC, between 1999 and 2010, " The drowning
rates for African-American children
were significantly higher than those
for Caucasians and Hispanics at every age from five years through 18
years. " The neighborhoods from
which Reagan and LBJ high schools
draw are largely Latino and African-American and experience some
of the highest number of drowning
incidents in Texas.
From the first class of 88, about
two or three students passed the
course and got hired on as lifeguards
for the summer of 2015. When those
kids went back to school in the fall,
they talked up the program to their
friends and got other students excited about it. This word-of-mouth advertising, coupled with the tangible
financial gains the students enjoyed,
was a big help to SwimATX's marketing efforts. " Last fall we had 67
students who participated at some

point during the semester, and this
semester, we have about 60 kids
we've had contact with through these
classes, " says Simmons. " Thirteen of
the 67 students from fall completed
the course and got certified and at
least six have applied and been hired
by [PARD]. " This number could go
higher once the department checks
its number against the YMCA's, as
hiring is done between both organizations. " We promote that the kids
can work for both agencies at the
same time. That allows the students
to receive the benefits each agency
has to offer while helping each agency safely staff each of their aquatic
facilities, " he adds.
SwimATX is only in its second
year but is already proving to be a
definite win-win for all parties involved. It not only creates a pipeline
of qualified lifeguards for PARD and
the YMCA, but also helps to increase
the number of minority teens who,
in addition to gaining employment
skills, are gaining a lifelong skill that
can help lower their drowning risk.
The goal is to eventually expand the
program throughout the Austin Independent School District which has a
total of 17 high schools.
To learn more about SwimATX, contact Wayne Simmons at wayne.simmons@austintexas.gov.
Sonia Myrick is the Managing Editor of Parks
& Recreation magazine (smyrick@nrpa.org).

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