Student Reflections on Working a Virtual Program in a Global Pandemic

For the past six summers, the Center for Community-Based Partnerships at the University of Alabama has hosted the Swim to the Top program at a local YMCA serving the Tuscaloosa, Alabama, community. The program offers instructor positions for undergraduate and graduate students attending the university. Due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, Swim to the Top had to go virtual in 2020. For the first time, instructors had to create content and connect virtually with the campers at the YMCA. The purpose of this article is to share and describe the experiences of three Swim to the Top student instructors—an undergraduate student, master’s student, and doctoral student—who participated in this virtual community engagement program during a global pandemic.