Drowning is one of the most common causes of accidental death among children in the United States. And, in 2022, Alabama ranked sixth in the nation for children drowning.
That said, it’s obviously important for our kids to learn about water safety and how to swim at an early age. But swimming is also fun. It’s great exercise. It’s even a good way to spend time with friends and make new ones.
For more and more children in our area, Levite Jewish Community Center (LJCC) checks all those boxes. With both an indoor and outdoor pool, a professional staff and a welcoming environment, it’s an ideal place for children of all ages to get their start in the water. A current collaboration between LJCC and i3 Academy Elementary is proving that out.
Started last year, the “Swim School” provides i3 students with 12 hours of swimming lessons over six weeks for a fee of only $25 per child. A dedicated bus provides transportation directly from i3 Academy in Woodlawn to LJCC in the afternoons on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. So the lessons are not only instructive for kids but convenient for parents, too.
Kaamilya Mahdi, for example, said her son Javontay, a third grader, loves to swim but the only classes he had previously taken were simply too far away from school and home. LJCC, located on Montclair Road, is much closer to East Lake where they live. She said that she can even do her grocery shopping nearby while Javontay swims.
Mahdi said students in the i3 schools are diverse and come from all over the Birmingham metro, so the extra social time spent with school friends is another important aspect of the program.
“I was really excited when the LJCC started offering swim classes through his school because he loves being in the pool,” Mahdi said. “I knew it would be a good way for him to get his swimming in and spend time with his friends.”
Other swimming lessons can often add up to hundreds of dollars, so the $25 price of the i3 Swim School makes lessons much more accessible for more children. And that brings us back to water safety and helping prevent all those drownings.
“Children who participate in Swim School will learn the lifelong benefit of water safety,” said Courtney Stone, Health and Wellness Director at LJCC. “We hope they’ll also learn to enjoy swimming’s recreational and health benefits.”
As for Javontay, Mahdi said he’s enjoyed the instructors and the swimming at the center so much that she recently purchased a membership for her family, including her other two children. While she hopes that Javontay might eventually want to join LJCC’s Barracudas Swim Club, for now she’s pleased to have him involved in such healthy recreation.
LJCC, a United Way of Central Alabama partner agency, is a longstanding center for community engagement, education, fitness and athletics in the Birmingham area. The organization thrives on diversity and encourages public participation in many of its programs. LJCC’s Swim School is one of the many ways that United Way partners and programs work to promote Youth Health and Wellness in Central Alabama. To learn more about those efforts, click here.