BATON ROUGE — The Capital Area YMCA is partnering with the East Baton Rouge Parish School System to offer free swim and water safety lessons to 2,500 elementary school students.

Students from Park Medical Academy took part in the program at the AC Lewis YMCA on South Foster Drive.

"You know, drowning is the second leading cause of death for kids under the age of 14," said Sean Elliott, CEO of the YMCA of the Capital Area. "Louisiana actually has the highest per capita child drowning rate in the continental United States."

"So, youth development is one of our pillars in the YMCA," Elliott said. "We always want to teach kids to swim, but we really want to teach all kids to be safe around water."

Organizers say learning to swim goes beyond learning a new skill and can also build confidence and encourage healthy activity.