Jeremiah Carnegie is 17 years old and trains every day at the London Aquatics Centre, London’s Olympic swimming pool.
One day, he realized something that no one else seemed to notice: although dozens of clubs from all over the city used the facilities, almost no child from his own neighborhood, Newham, knew how to swim. The lessons were too expensive for many families. So Jeremiah didn’t wait until he was an adult to do something about it. He contacted his club, NUEL, and the operator Everyone Active, and together they put together a completely free program. They wrote to every primary school in Newham.
Within two weeks, 780 children got in the water, 320 of them for the first time in their lives. Those who didn’t have a swimsuit or goggles were given them. Five days of lessons and water safety education, and in the end, everyone had a medal and certificate in hand. Children who could only stay afloat with floaties ended up floating on their backs with complete confidence. The mayor of Newham went to see the program with his own eyes, and they are already planning more sessions. At 17, Jeremiah Carnegie taught an entire community that the system had left behind how to swim.