AquaMissions Is Bringing Water Safety Education to Northeast Ohio Schools

AquaMissions helps students build confidence in and around the water.

The Cleveland-based nonprofit helps students build confidence in and around the water.

by Kirsten Kimbler | Cleveland Magazine | Jul. 27, 2026 | 5:00 AM

Waves crash along the Lake Erie shoreline as a bus of Davis High School freshmen pulls up to Wendy Park. One student, noticeably anxious, has never seen the lake before — despite living only a few miles away.

For the first time in his life, he is fitted for a life jacket and handed paddleboard gear.

Educator Lynne Nagy assures him he can enter the water at his own pace and reminds him that the life jacket will keep him afloat if he falls. If it doesn’t happen today, she tells him, it can happen another day.

Still nervous, he heads into the water on his paddleboard, life jacket tightly secured around him…