Photo by Isaiah Singleton/The Atlanta Voice
Black children aged 10-14 drown at nearly four times the rate of white children. The disparity is even more pronounced in swimming pools, where Black children in the 10-14 age group drown at 7.6 times the rate of white children, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | CDC (.gov)
Black children ages 5-9 drown at more than twice the rate of white children, and those aged 10-14 drown at nearly four times the rate, according to the CDC.
CEO Trish Miller created SwemKids, Atlanta’s largest black-owned swim school, after a near-tragic story.
On a college trip in 1996, a group of friends found out Miller could not swim, so they decided they were going to teach her. However, not really thinking, Miller jumped into the deep end of the pool after her lesson, ended up panicking in the water.
Thankfully, she was rescued.
With a background in public health, Miller says she began to examine the statistics that affected certain communities, and she wanted to do something about it while also conquering her own journey in the water.
“I wrote a small grant and self-funded some students to be transported during the school day for swimming lessons. While they were taking swimming lessons, I took swimming lessons with them. I wanted to get them to their first lap, and we really grew from there,” she said.
Eight years later, SwemKids teaches and instructs nearly 1,000 students a week in their waters.
“We have nine different locations that we serve around the city, and the work has grown beautifully, more than I ever expected,” she said.
Additionally, with a focus on aquatics, SwemKids creates opportunities for people to find their space and their heart in the water. They offer, in addition to learning to swim, water aerobics, certifications for people to be lifeguards, water safety instructors, water safety focused workshops each month, CPR and First Aid certifications.
Miller says they pride themselves on celebrating their swimmers’ first lap and it’s a crucial piece of the work they do at SwemKids. They also have an “Adult Swem” program where they ensure they provide opportunities and spaces where adults feel welcome and celebrated in their waters as well.
“When you see and hear events where adults are drowning, we unfortunately lose a lot of them to water and drowning, so it just reminds us all how critical these skills are,” she said.
Also, Miller says she produced the name “SwemKids” after looking at the background and history of why the statistics around certain communities are high in drowning or lack of swimming ability.
“Much of it stems from the voyage from the main continent over to the Americas, so swim is Afrikaans for swim, and it’s to pay respect and honor to those that came before us, and just taking note, this is why we do this work,” she said. “Every time we see this word, it’s a reminder”.
Celebrating eight years of SwemKids, Miller says she feels immense pride because it wasn’t work, she saw herself doing as she was on a focused path at first.
“I’m going to get emotional, but I didn’t start out seeing myself doing this type of work. I have degrees from a lot of different schools, and I wanted something that was more mission-driven and allowed me to show impact in communities that I’m a part of,” she said. “I didn’t know I’d find my heart in the water.”
The water, Miller says, is a spiritual place in many ways and to have a chance to journey people through it and help them to see a space where it’s a part of their DNA, it’s an honor and gives her so much pride.
In the future, Miller says she sees SwemKids in “world domination” and being in a place where they’re able to expand even with nine locations in eight years alone.
“Us being able to open nine separate locations in the metro Atlanta area shows, to me, a testament to the need of the work we do. It shows there is a real need for our services,” she said. “I want to do everything I can to make sure we move beyond the metro area, beyond Georgia, into communities that really need this too.”
SwemKids is a year-round swim school, so they focus on helping everyone to understand it’s better to learn off-season and display that progress during the peak season.
“We beef up our education around this time of year to recruit people to be able to come in during our fall and winter seasons,” she said. “Our pools are warm.”
Miller encourages everyone to learn how to swim by “doing it scared.” Opening SwemKids as a single parent with not a lot of money and a will to not fail, Miller says she was able to weather the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I weathered COVID with a swimming school that primarily dealt with face-to-face contact of people, and that was the scariest thing I’d ever done,” she said. “I had just left my good ole’ government job and COVID hit, and I was sitting at home looking at grown people bills, and that, for me, showed how resilient you really can be when you don’t have a choice.”
She also says sometimes pushing through the scary part is what’s needed to get you to the other side. Statistics show, according to Miller, most businesses fail within a few years.
“This happens only if you believe it, but if you believe in your own ability and create those opportunities for yourself,” she said. “You really can do whatever it is that you want to do.”
“I would like for people to take the time to learn. Find a loved one and go with them. If you have children who do not know how to swim, now’s the time to get them in the water, and we would love for you to select us to be able to do that,” she said.
For more information on SwemKids, visit https://www.swemkids.com.
