In the News
AquaMissions Is Bringing Water Safety Education to Northeast Ohio Schools
by Kirsten Kimbler | Cleveland Magazine
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…
AquaMissions hopes to prevent drownings by teaching Cleveland students to swim
By Kodi Reynolds, Kirsten Kimbler | Ideastream Public Media
Every year in the United States there are over 4,000 drowning deaths, making it the second leading cause of unintentional injury death for children ages 5-14, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In Northeast Ohio, due to the proximity to Lake Erie and Cuyahoga River, there is even more reason to teach young people to swim. According to the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, in 2025 there were 19 drownings in Lake Erie. With summer fast approaching, the likelihood of accidental drownings increases.
The nonprofit program, AquaMissions, now located at Cleveland State University, teaches kids how to swim to help prevent accidental drownings…
Swimming for all: Cleveland kids learn to float, breathe at the pool
Roosevelt Leftwich | Fox 8 News
CLEVELAND (WJW) — There are times in life when you just have to take the plunge.
With a few exceptions most of these fourth graders at Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s Garfield Elementary School have had little-to-no experience in a pool.
But after four weeks of lessons about breathing, floating and making good safe choices around any body of water, they now all find being in the water no big thing and that actually it’s pretty darn fun…
AquaMissions aims to teach lifesaving water safety to kids in Cleveland
Lindsay Buckingham | WKYC Studios
CLEVELAND — In the waters of Cleveland State University’s pool, a new wave of opportunity is making a splash for students from Scranton Elementary School.
For many of these fourth graders, this isn’t just a swim lesson—it’s their first real introduction to the water…