Roeper School, USA Swimming Foundation Partner to Help Bring Diversity to the Sport

The opened the doors of its community center Saturday to host the USA Swimming Foundation’s “Make A Splash” diversity program for a second consecutive year.

The two-hour open house was a way for parents to learn about the “Make A Splash” program, which is designed to make swimming more accessible to children who otherwise likely won't have much exposure to the sport.

The foundation launched the program in 2007 with the goal of adding racial diversity to swimming after a survey of 2,000 Americans showed that nearly 58 percent of Hispanics and 70 percent of African-Americans age 6-16 had “low or no” swimming skills. That's nearly double the rate for whites, according to the foundation statistics. 

The numbers have startling implications. According to the foundation's research, minority children between the ages of 5 and 14 are three times more likely than whites to die in drowning incidents.

“The most obvious way to break this trend or cycle is to teach these most at-risk groups of children how to swim,” said Carolyn Lett, campus and diversity coordinator at The Roeper School.

The USA Swimming Foundation invites organizations with swimming facilities to host “Make A Splash” sessions that are specifically geared toward teaching basic swimming skills and safety to underrepresented minorities at little or no cost to parents.

“Roeper has a long history of being proactive when it comes to equity and justice," Lett said. "The Roepers pride themselves on being proactive for human and civil rights.”

Betty Booker-Vaughn, a mother in attendance from Detroit, said she appreciates the effort and opportunity.

“Awareness is key,” she said. “I was a swimmer at Ohio State, and I don’t like the stereotypes.”

But money is tight for Booker-Vaughn, who is back in school at the University of Michigan, Dearborn, and said she could not afford swimming lessons. She said the "Make A Splash" program was a perfect fit for her fifth-grade daughter, Carrington Vaughn.

“It’s important to me,” Vaughn said. "I like to swim, but I need the lessons."

Speaking to a crowd of about 50 people that included school representatives and alumni, representatives of the U.S. Coast Guard discussed the actual lessons, which will take place Aug. 15-19, as well as topics ranging from water safety to the proper use of life vests. The open house ended with a tour of Roeper's swimming facilities.

Lett was inspired to bring the program to Roeper after hearing the story of Wanda Butts, who lost her 16-year-old son, Josh, in a 2006 drowning accident in Toledo, OH. Butts has since started a program in her son’s name designed to teach swimming safety and awareness for minority children.

“I’m so proud you are all here today,” Butts said while speaking to the group Saturday. “I never want a mother to go what I went through, and drowning is 100 percent preventable.”