Two Bolles swimmers, Krissi Greene ’21 and Bianca de Toledo Piza ’21, volunteered at the 34^th Annual Black History Invitational Swim Meet, held February 14-16 in Washington, D.C. Over 1,000 swimmers competed in one of the longest-running minority swim meets in the world. The meet was founded in 1987 with the mission of providing urban youth nationwide a positive outlet for expression, exposure to strong competition, a forum to meet positive role models and the opportunity to visit the Nation's Capital.

During the event, Greene and Piza met Dr. Cecil Gordon, the first African American to serve on the USA Swimming Foundation’s board of directors. An obstetrician from Wilmington, Delaware, and a longtime USA Swimming official, Dr. Gordon has officiated several high-level international meets including the 2016 Olympic Games where he was the starter for Michael Phelps' final Olympic race – a gold medal effort in the 4x100 meter medley relay that included Bolles alumnus Ryan Murphy ’13.

In speaking to Greene and Piza, Dr. Gordon reminded them that what they do in the pool is very important but what they do outside of the pool and giving back to the sport they have come to love is equally as important.