Every year more than 320,000 deaths occur from drowning worldwide. Swimming is a crucial life skill that most people learn as far back as they can remember, but not for everyone. At the moment, Hackley has swimming as one of their sports during the months of November to February, but other than that the pool remains mostly untouched with no other swimming programs available for people in grades over sixth. Because of this many people do not get the opportunity to learn the basics of swimming, and that can be harmful to Hackley’s students and prevent them from many opportunities as they get older. 

The main reason why Hackley should specifically create this program is for the safety and welfare of its students. Many people may argue that with supervision and other people around there’s little to no chance that something will happen to a person who is not skilled at swimming. But this is entirely untrue, and because of that risk at least 23% of drownings occur with people present at the time. Hackley has more than enough materials and staff to organize this program, and it would prevent many opportunities of drowning or other injuries for the students in the future. 

Not only would this keep the students safe, but it would also open up more opportunities for students after they leave the school. More than half of the drownings for people fifteen and up occur in natural waters like lakes and oceans, and this can cause students to miss out on many important moments in their lives. If we had a program to teach people how to swim students would gain much more confidence and be more self-assured when it comes to swimming in pools and other bodies of water. Because of this, normal events like parties and vacations would be much more fun and entertaining for the students and it would open up more opportunities as they graduate from Hackley. 

Overall, Hackley needs to create this swimming program for the importance of safety and prevention of potential drownings for its students. Many people would benefit from this program, and it would open up more doors for students as they grow and leave Hackley.