Cranberry Township joins World’s Largest Swim Lesson
CRANBERRY TWP — For the first time, Cranberry Township Waterpark partnered with the Goldfish Swim School on Thursday, June 22, to host the 14th annual World’s Largest Swimming Lesson.
“It’s incredibly important — drowning prevention is what we’re here for,” said Megan Holenick, director of operations for the school. “We teach water safety to swimmers of all ages. Drowning is scary, and it’s something that is preventable.”
Over 35,000 communities around the world participated in this swim lesson to teach the principles of water safety for all ages.
“We have our instructors in the water and we have instructors from Cranberry Township Waterpark, and we’re going through a curriculum that teaches safety skills,” Holenick said. “We’re teaching swimmers how to float on their back, how to hold their breath, how to do a front crawl or pulling paddle to swim to the closest edge.”
The 30-minute lesson was free and open to the public, with parents packing the poolside to watch their children learn the importance of water safety.
“It’s amazing that they’re offering a free swim lesson, especially for families that haven’t done swim lessons in the past,” said Lynsi Show of Mars. “What a great way to get people motivated to get their kids water safety skills.”
Show said she has been taking her children — Jaelyn, 7, Adlyn, 5, and Everly, 4 — to Goldfish Swim School in Wexford for years.
“Being able to take them to the pool or going swimming and they’re comfortable, I’m comfortable ... as a parent, it makes you much more comfortable taking your kids to the pool,” Show said.
Jamie and Colleen Mahan, of Valencia, agreed, saying their son Silas, 6, has been taking lessons for the last three months.
“He loves to swim, and he loves the Cranberry pool,” Colleen said with a laugh.
While Colleen said that was part of the reason they attended, Jamie said there was a larger motivation.
“We’re going to be going to the beach, and any additional skills he’s got that he can learn before we get to the beach — that’s even better,” Jamie said. “He’s been to the beach before, but he’s going to be more bold this time.”
As the swim lessons ended, Silas joined a group of swimmers to play on the park’s massive waterslide.
At the top, he hesitated for a moment before bravely plunging down. “I went on the waterslide — for my first time ever,” Silas said.
He said going down the slide was his favorite part. According Jamie, Silas told him the swim lesson was his “favorite thing he’s ever done.”
“We’re all here for one common goal, and that’s to keep the kids safe,” Holenick said.
David Hutner, interim director for Cranberry Township parks and recreation, said the township is no stranger to water safety education.
“Matter of fact, we’ve got a ”Stand Up To Drowning“ campaign that we do — it’s about raising awareness,” Hutner said. “I mean, we offer the swim lessons and everything else, but we wanted to take it step further.”
The campaign, featuring the township’s mascot, CT the Crocodile, helps teach children the importance of safety at waterparks.
“The kids come in and take a pledge that they’re going to follow the rules, they’re going to be safe,” Hutner said. “Part of that program also includes our life preservers, so we had a sponsor that bought all the life preservers for us, we put them out for free for anybody who needs them.
“It’s about enjoying the water, but doing it safely.”
So when Christine Palmer, Goldfish Swim School’s chief administrative officer, reached out about participating in the World’s Largest Swim Lesson, Hutner said it was an easy answer.
“If it has to do with aquatic safety, I’m on board,” Hutner said. “It doesn’t matter where you’re from, they have the same philosophy, so it just made for a natural partnership — and you can see it just works.”
Palmer said both groups are driven by a desire to avoid preventable drowning.
“Kids have (drowned) this year, and it was preventable,” Palmer said. “That’s the thing that really hits home, because we don’t know how many lives we’re really saving because it doesn’t happen, but that’s why we do it.”
Water safety should always be “proactive and preventative,” according to Hutner.
“You get one child to learn how to save themselves, that’s one child we don’t have to save,” he said.
Events like the World’s Largest Swim Lesson help make that a reality for families in the township, according to Hutner.
“Maybe it’s just as little as a 30-minute swim lesson so that one of these kids now, next week, isn’t going to be a victim,” Hutner said.
