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Roswell graduate overcomes odds to become commercial diver
Roswell's Swift School graduate Ronin Molina-Salas has spent the last four years exploring the bottom of the ocean as a commercial diver.
ROSWELL, Ga. - You might not have heard of the Swift School before. It's a small private school in Roswell specifically for children with dyslexia and other speech needs. One of their graduates has taken on a pretty interesting career, exploring the world underwater as a commercial diver.
Ronin Molina-Salas spends his days below the surface.
"I am a commercial diver/tender. I do salvage work underwater. I salvage dive for boats or big structures that are underwater that need to be removed from the bottom of the ocean of the river," Molina-Salas said.
He's spent the past four years exploring the water, taking on pretty unique tasks.
"I've done nuclear diving, I've done a lot of underwater inspections, and I also dive for fun, looking for lost items, and just to explore," he said.
His job is his passion, and it started at a young age while he was watching his father.
"I got the OK from Swift to go to Alaska and see my father for the first time go in the water in the Alaskan waters and dive. For that I'm grateful for, and I fell in love," he told Good Day's Lindsay Tuman.
Ronin was a student at the Swift School at the time. The school takes an individual approach to help students reach their potential. For Ronin, that was diving.
"They knew that my father was a diver, and they used some of his influence and his stories to motivate me to do stuff," he said.
And his lessons there still help him today.
"I still have all my old templates from Swift. They help me do my reports and what not for diving," Molina-Salas said.
That's the kind of success the school aims for with its students. Chris Pomar is the current head of the Swift School.
"That's our mission statement, prepare students for success in life. So we're not just looking at their ability to read, but their ability to succeed in every aspect of their life," Pomar said.
For Ronin, he says it's a learning experience that changed his life, and helped him get where he is now.
"To even have the opportunity to come back to Swift and see in different eyes, I say thank you, deeply," he said.