The Splash! Story

Although Splash! formally started in early 2007, its roots go back to the 1990s when Alan Young, former CEO of the Visiting International Faculty Program, noticed a declining emphasis on language instruction in the elementary schools of North Carolina.

Alan himself had struggled mightily after college to learn Spanish and thought there must be a better way. He knew the value of achieving fluency in a second language – and the many benefits of teaching that second language to children at an early age.

Then Alan visited Jones Elementary School in Greensboro, North Carolina and saw a language immersion program for the first time. There, the students – all of them native English speakers – were speaking Spanish with ease.

“Why couldn’t I have done this?” he wondered. “And why don’t we have more of these language immersion programs?” 

That’s why Splash! was born. Our goal is to help more and more schools start new language immersion programs each year, until the day when any child who wants to become fluent in a foreign language can do so.

Initially, we have focused on programs in Spanish. However, we look forward to being able to help schools start programs in a variety of languages and plan on adding programs in Chinese in 2010-2011.

Splash! Schools
Splash! currently works with nine elementary schools across North Carolina:

• E.E. Miller Elementary School, Fayetteville, Cumberland County, K-2
• East Iredell Elementary School, Statesville, Iredell-Statesville Schools, Kindergarten
• Eastfield Elementary School, Marion, McDowell County, K-1
• Elon Elementary School, Elon, Alamance-Burlington School System, K-1
• Hopewell Elementary School, Trinity, Randolph County, K-2
• Howard Hall Classical Elementary School, Fayetteville, Cumberland County, Kindergarten
• Owen Elementary School, Fayetteville, Cumberland County, K-1
• Selma Elementary School, Selma, Johnston County, K-2
• Smith Elementary School, Burlington, Alamance-Burlington School System, Kindergarten

For more information about bringing Splash! to your school or district, please contact us.

"In my 18 years of teaching, I have never been so impressed by anything as I have by the Spanish immersion classroom."
- Susan Pool, principal, Eastfield Elementary School, Marion, North Carolina