On Monday evening, student organizations at USC joined together at the Physical Education Building  pool to host the second-ever Dawgie Paddles event — a free swim safety event that gave USC students the opportunity to learn how to swim and practice water safety from local instructors.

The event — hosted in collaboration by Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., Black Student Assembly, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. and the Center for Black Cultural and Student Affairs — offered hands-on beginner swim lessons and water safety instruction from instructors with the Blue Dreams Swim School.

Including activities for swimmers and non-swimmers alike, the afternoon allowed participants to listen to music and enjoy refreshments, decorate swim caps or take a dip in the water and learn from instructors.

“The whole goal of tonight is really just to show that swimming is fun, showing that it’s not as complicated as we were taught that it is,” said Terrelle Lue, the founder of Blue Dreams Swim School and co-organizer of the event.

Dawgie Paddles first launched last semester, returned with collaborations from more recognized student organizations, participants, professional instructors and sponsored products from SoulCap and Olipop. 

Olipop, a drink company, gave the event several cases of sodas for participants. SoulCap, a swimwear company that according to its mission statement, is committed to “bringing inclusivity and accessibility to the sport,” gifted free swim caps that participants could use in the water and for decorating. 

Dawgie Paddles grew out of a collaboration between Jaden Reis, a junior majoring in computational linguistics, student leaders in the Black community, Lue, and members of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., said Reis. 

Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. hosts Swim 1922, a national initiative that addresses swim access in Black communities, said Leilani Thomas, a junior majoring in cinema and media studies and member of the Divine 9 sorority. The sorority has hosted the event for years, but it was only after last year’s programming that the organization partnered with Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., the Black Student Assembly and the CBCSA to build a joint, recurring program. 

Thomas said that the various groups hosting the events wanted to collaborate to get more outreach to the general public. 

“There is a stigma in the Black community that Black people do not know how to swim, so that’s why we have these events,” Thomas said. “So they can learn how to swim, and so when they’re going on their trips and they’re getting in the water, they won’t be afraid of drowning and things like that.”

While many public schools and youth programs offer swim lessons, lack of access and generational fears have contributed to lower participation rates among Black Americans, according to the YMCA. Reis said that several students came to Dawgie Paddles because they never had the opportunity to learn before college.

To support instruction, the event partnered with professional swim coaches, including Lue. The swim school founder has worked as a swim instructor since he was 15, and returned to USC for the second time to teach at Dawgie Paddles.

“Everybody needs to see themselves in something,” Lue said. “If you’ve never had a swim instructor who looks like you or understands your experience, it can make learning harder. Programs like this are about building access and normalizing swimming for everyone.”

Lue said his approach is focused on reducing fear through clear, simple instruction and building trust with new swimmers. The event also featured independent swim instructors, like Sandra Reyes, a local swim instructor who came to USC for the event after having worked nearby earlier in her career.

“[Dawgie Paddles] was full circle for me,” Reyes said. “I used to work here 25 years ago, and I used to come swimming to this pool every day on my lunch break.”

In addition to lessons, the event emphasized cultural community-building. Reis said he appreciated the support from all the organizations that joined the event and hoped the program could continue to grow beyond USC.

“If we could somehow get [the word out] and teach kids and make it a service event, that would also be big for me,” Reis said. “If somebody [had] taught me a lot younger and [given] me this opportunity a lot younger, I would have taken it.”

The organizers said they plan to continue hosting Dawgie Paddles each semester and hope to partner with student wellness and recreational programs to increase access to swim education on campus.