Malik Ramirez was 15 years old when he drowned in a private lake across from Page High School in 2019. He was swimming with two other students when he went under. His mother, Barbara Townsend, said Malik never learned to swim. Since his death, she has worked tirelessly to keep this tragedy from happening again. Barbara feels there are plenty of things to do to prevent this incident from happening ever again to anyone. Malik’s mom was interviewed about the Page High School swim program, and she feels that it is a positive thing the school is doing by instructing kids how to swim. She also speaks out against schools who have eliminated their swim programs, stating the lessons should be brought back.
Townsend started a foundation and partnership with the Greensboro Aquatic Center and Guilford County Schools to teach students how to swim. The Malik Ramirez Swimming Program is underway with multiple free classes this month. I interviewed 2 students at Page High School who participated in the Malik Ramirez swim lesson program. Both students’ responses to my questions about the program were similar. In fact, they both really enjoyed the program.
The first student I interviewed was Mandi Mubarak. She is a 12th grader who completed the program. She wants everybody to learn how to swim for survival reasons. She feels that learning how to swim can save your life or somebody else’s. Mandi chose to do the swimming program because she likes to swim in her free time and wanted to learn the technique behind swimming. Some techniques she learned were how to float and some breathing exercises, including a method to be able to breathe underwater. She swims with her little brother often and wanted to be able to teach him how to swim as well. Mandi could tell that the program meant a lot to Principal Naglee, and it was serious to him. Mandi’s takeaway from the program was that it was very impactful, and she was very thankful to be a part of this program.
The second student I interviewed was Mani Hightower. She is in 11th grade and completed the swimming program. She learned a lot from the program. A few of the main techniques she learned were stomach floats, back floats, and how to freestyle. Mani feels it is especially important for everyone to learn to swim in case of a natural disaster, and swimming could be the only way to survive. She did the program because nobody in her family knows how to swim. Mani recalls an incident where her little brother jumped into a swimming pool when nobody was paying attention, and he did not know how to swim. She wanted to be able to teach him how to swim so that incident never happens again. Mani had the pleasure of meeting Malik’s mother. She says Ms. Townsend was an “extremely sweet lady” and it was clear she misses her son. Mani’s takeaway from the program was it was very inspirational, and she was grateful to be a part of this experience. She was even interviewed for Fox 8 News.
For the duration of the program, Page students went to the Greensboro Aquatic Center, which is an indoor facility. They went for 2 weeks every Tuesday and Thursday and completed 4 total days of swimming for 2 hours each class. After completing the course, they all received a certificate from Guilford County Schools to teach students how to swim. The Malik Ramirez Swimming Program is underway with multiple free classes this month.
