Swimming competitively for the last ten years has had an enormous positive impact on my life. It has created a desire to be active life long, and to remain a healthy, strong, individual. I simply do not feel well physically if I miss a day of training. Second, I have forged lifelong bonds of friendship with my teammates. We spend over 20 hours per week training together (starting at 5 am most days!), suffering together, and encouraging each other. We feel closer than siblings and really enjoy being with each other, even out of the water. Swimming has also taught me the value of working hard to reach my goals. Dropping time requires significant focus and discipline and demands overcoming negativity in order to improve. Through sport I have learned to be a gracious winner, but also how to handle setbacks. Both skill sets are indispensable for coping with success and failure later in life. Swimming has also provided me an opportunity to give back to my community. I teach free swim lessons to low-income children and teens who are at a much higher risk for drowning. My most significant takeaways from this experience include the following: 1. It is extremely gratifying to witness the transformation of others. Despite their initial fear, most of the fifty children learned to swim, and many of them passed the swim test. They can now enjoy pools and local aquatic parks without fear. 2. People need to be empowered to succeed by having the proper support and equipment. On the first day, some of the students were afraid to put their faces in the water so I raised money for goggles. Within two days we had enough cash to purchase a pair of goggles for every child. Being able to open their eyes underwater and see clearly without the chlorine burning their eyes was key to their success. They could take the first steps towards learning to swim if they had the kind of equipment that I have always taken for granted. 3. Serving others through sport is humanizing – both for them and for the volunteers. Children who were strangers to me at first became people with names, faces, personalities, and important stories. What surprised me most is that helping them also made me feel more human. I gained eyes to see others with greater clarity, I developed more patience and compassion, and I learned how important it is for people to have a basic set of needs met in order for them to flourish. My father died from brain cancer (glioblastoma) in July 2018, just two weeks before I started high school. He had been sick for nearly two years prior and watching him slowly fade away was devastating. He attended as many of my swim meets as he could in those last two years, despite how difficult it was for him to move. After his death, I would often look up into the stands at my meets and visualize him sitting there, clapping his hands, pumping his fists, and yelling my name. Those memories motivate me to compete at my very best, and I feel his fighting spirit with me during every race. If my father were alive today I know he would be incredibly proud, not only of my accomplishments in the pool, but for the way swimming has profoundly shaped the person I have become – someone who is strong and determined, and who uses those skills developed through sport to bring out the strength in others who did not see it in themselves.

I have partnered with the Better Choice Center of the YWCA to teach free swimming lessons to low-income children and teens who are at high risk for drowning. Giving back to the community in this way is important first and foremost because it saves lives. Minority children are three to five times more likely to drown than their white counterparts. I also learned that giving involves empowering people with what they need to succeed. On the first day, some of the swimmers were afraid to put their faces in the water so I raised money for goggles. Within two days we had enough cash to purchase a pair of goggles for every child. Being able to open their eyes underwater and see clearly without the chlorine burning their eyes was key to their success. One of the other reasons giving is important is because it is humanizing – both for the recipient and for the one who gives. Children who were strangers to me at first became people with names, faces, personalities, and important stories. The younger children wanted to hold my hand and tell me about schools and their families. Helping them also made me feel more human. I gained eyes to see others with greater clarity, I developed more patience and compassion, and I learned how important it is for people to have a basic set of needs met in order for them to flourish. We tend to think of giving only in terms of what we do for others. The benefits, however, go both ways. Giving to others of our time and talents certainly helps the recipient, but it broadens our understanding of those who differ from us, develops empathy, gives us a purpose beyond ourselves, and ideally makes us much more compassionate people.

I have partnered with the Better Choice Center of the YWCA to teach free swimming lessons to low-income children and teens who are at high risk for drowning. Giving back to the community in this way is important first and foremost because it saves lives. Minority children are three to five times more likely to drown than their white counterparts. I also learned that giving involves empowering people with what they need to succeed. On the first day of swim class, some of the children were afraid to put their faces in the water so I raised money for goggles. Within two days we had enough cash to purchase a pair of goggles for every child. Being able to open their eyes underwater and see clearly without the chlorine burning their eyes was key to their success. One of the other reasons giving is important is because it is humanizing – both for the recipient and for the one who gives. Children who were strangers to me at first became people with names, faces, personalities, and important stories. The younger children wanted to hold my hand and tell me about schools and their families. Helping them also made me feel more human. I gained eyes to see others with greater clarity, I developed more patience and compassion, and I learned how important it is for people to have a basic set of needs met in order for them to flourish. We tend to think of giving only in terms of what we do for others. The benefits, however, go both ways. Giving to others of our time and talents certainly helps the recipient, but it broadens our understanding of those who differ from us, develops empathy, gives us a purpose beyond ourselves, and ideally makes us much more compassionate people.

Last summer I partnered with a small team of advanced swimmers from Enfinity Aquatic Club and the Better Choice Center of the YWCA to teach free swimming lessons at Winston Waterworks to low-income children and teens. Between last summer and this summer, I will have spent about 50 hours in service. My most significant takeaways were as follows: 1. It is extremely gratifying to witness the transformation of others. Despite their initial fear, most of the fifty children learned to swim, and many of them passed the swim test. Their confidence in the water grew considerably, and they can now enjoy pools and local aquatic parks without fear. 2. People need to be empowered to succeed by having the proper support and equipment. On the first day, some of the students were afraid to put their faces in the water or to venture beyond where they could touch the bottom, so I raised money for goggles and kickboards. Within two days we had enough cash to purchase a pair of goggles for every child and twenty kickboards to share. Being able to open their eyes underwater and see clearly without the chlorine burning their eyes was key to their success. They could take the first steps towards learning to swim if they had the kind of equipment that I have always taken for granted – a simple pair of goggles. 3. A few people can have a significant impact on the lives of many. With only eight advanced swimmers who were enthusiastically dedicated to the cause, we taught nearly fifty children how to swim. Their appreciation was manifest at each lesson with hugs, smiles, and some of the younger girls even wanted to hold my hand as we walked across the pool deck. I was humbled by their kindness and affection. In turn, we were teaching them life-saving skills. This is especially important among minority children where drowning rates are 3-5x higher than their white counterparts. 4. Serving others is humanizing – both for them and for the volunteers. Children who were strangers to me at first became people with names, faces, personalities, and important stories. What surprised me most is that helping them also made me feel more human. I gained eyes to see others with greater clarity, I developed more patience and compassion, and I learned how important it is for people to have a basic set of needs met in order for them to flourish. This is perhaps the most underrated benefit of community service. We tend to think of it only in terms of what we do for others. The benefits, however, go both ways. Helping others broadens our understanding of those who differ from us, develops empathy, gives us a purpose beyond ourselves, and ideally makes us much more compassionate people. 5. Service can spur us on to greater service. My community service also made me curious. Why did these minority children show more fear than majority children with whom I had worked previously? What I discovered was shocking. The drowning rates among minority children are three to five times higher than their white counterparts. The reasons are complex, but the bottom line is that fewer minorities have access to pools, and many are raised by non-swimming parents who fear the water themselves. In addition to how community service forms us into kinder people, it can also empower us to be agents of change.