Country of Residence
United States
Age
16
Project title
LakeSafe Initiative
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
LakeSafe is a youth-led initiative bringing young people, families, public agencies, nonprofits, and community leaders together to prevent drowning through water-safety education, life jacket access, youth leadership, and community action.
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
https://lakesafeinitiative.org/
Project Category
My project is a brand new / emerging idea
Project Stage
Scaling (We’re expanding impact to new locations or in new and innovative ways)
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
Lake Sammamish has always been part of my community, but one summer day changed the way I saw it. In July 2025, I was at the lake with my dad and our neighbors when a fun day on the water suddenly turned into an emergency. Their boat flipped, and within seconds, everything changed. I remember the panic, especially seeing a young child terrified in the water, and how quickly the situation became serious. Thankfully, everyone made it back safely, but I couldn't stop thinking about what I had witnessed. Then, just weeks later, a drowning happened at the same lake. That was the moment something clicked for me. I kept asking: Why do we wait for a tragedy to talk about water safety? What do families actually need before they get into the water? And could I, even as a teenager, do something about it? I started researching, talking to water-safety experts and community organizations, and reaching out to anyone willing to listen. I realized there were already incredible people working on different pieces of the problem. Maybe I didn't need to have all the answers. Maybe my role could be to bring them together. That became my “aha” moment: I didn't have to wait until I was older or be an expert to start solving a problem I cared about. That realization became LakeSafe, and one lake became the starting point for something I hope can protect families far beyond my own community.
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
Drowning is preventable, yet it can happen in seconds. After witnessing a water emergency myself and then learning about a drowning at Lake Sammamish just weeks later, I began looking more closely at why these tragedies continue to happen. I discovered that the problem wasn't simply that people don't care about water safety. Many families don't fully understand how different open water is from a swimming pool. Cold water, changing conditions, exhaustion, sudden drop-offs, and emergencies can overwhelm even confident swimmers. Families may also arrive at the water without properly fitted life jackets or easy access to clear safety information. But I noticed another gap: many incredible organizations are already working on parts of this problem, yet their efforts are not always connected. Parks, first responders, nonprofits, public-health agencies, schools, and community organizations each have different resources and expertise. I began wondering what could happen if we brought those pieces together. This matters deeply in my community because lakes are part of our everyday life. Families shouldn't have to experience a tragedy before learning how to stay safe. To me, the problem is not just drowning. It is making prevention visible, accessible, and something the whole community takes responsibility for before an emergency happens.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
My solution is LakeSafe, a youth-led initiative that turns water safety from something we talk about after a tragedy into something families can see, access, and practice before an emergency happens. LakeSafe works in four connected ways: education, life jacket access, youth leadership, and community collaboration. First, we bring water-safety education directly to families at schools and community events. Instead of expecting people to search for information, we meet them where they already are and teach practical skills like choosing and properly fitting a life jacket, understanding open-water risks, preparing before going to the water, and knowing what to do in an emergency. Second, we make safety equipment more accessible. Through community life-jacket drives, we collected approximately 100 life jackets. We then worked with Washington State Parks to put donated jackets into use at Lake Sammamish State Park at Tibbetts Beach, Sunset Beach, and the boat launch, turning community donations into resources families can actually use. Third, we give young people meaningful leadership roles. Youth volunteers help educate families, organize events, lead outreach, collect life jackets, and advocate for safer communities. Finally, we connect people who might otherwise work separately. Through the LakeSafe Confluence and ongoing partnerships, we bring together parks, public health, first responders, nonprofits, government leaders, businesses, and youth around shared solutions. LakeSafe isn't trying to replace the organizations already doing this work. My goal is to connect their strengths, identify gaps, and turn individual efforts into coordinated community action that can eventually be replicated at other lakes.
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
In one year, LakeSafe has grown from an idea at one lake into a community movement reaching more than 5,000 people and families. We have engaged 150+ volunteers, participated in or hosted 45+ community events, and built a network of 20+ partner organizations. One of our biggest milestones was the LakeSafe Confluence, where 19+ organizations came together around one shared goal: preventing drowning. The gathering resulted in 15+ public commitments and helped turn conversations into action, including a $30,000+ YMCA commitment toward free swim lessons and water-safety programming. Our community also collected approximately 100 life jackets. Through our partnership with Washington State Parks, donated jackets were deployed at Lake Sammamish State Park at Tibbetts Beach, Sunset Beach, and the boat launch, putting safety equipment directly where families need it. Our advocacy has also helped elevate water safety through government proclamations, community education, and media coverage including KIRO 7 and FOX 13. But the impact I value most is seeing people move from awareness to ownership: a young person volunteering, a family learning how to fit a life jacket, or an organization asking, “What can we do?” LakeSafe is showing me that one person's concern can become a community's shared responsibility.
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
I didn't invent life jackets, swimming lessons, or water-safety education. What is different about LakeSafe is how we bring these existing solutions and the people behind them together. When I started, I found many organizations doing incredible work, but often on separate pieces of the same problem. Parks manage recreation areas, first responders respond to emergencies, nonprofits educate families, public-health agencies focus on prevention, and community organizations mobilize volunteers. Families, however, experience water safety as one issue. LakeSafe acts as a youth-led connector between these pieces. Instead of creating another organization that tries to do everything itself, we identify gaps, bring the right people to the same table, and turn their different strengths into shared action. Our LakeSafe Confluence is one example. We brought 19+ organizations together not simply to discuss drowning prevention, but to ask each one what they could actually contribute. That resulted in 15+ public commitments. Our life-jacket initiative followed the same model: community members donated jackets, youth helped mobilize the effort, and Washington State Parks helped put them directly into use at the lake. Youth leadership is another important part of our model. Young people aren't just receiving safety messages; they help educate, organize, advocate, and build solutions alongside adults and experts. My long-term goal is to make this approach replicable. A young person shouldn't need to create every solution from scratch. They should be able to identify a problem, map the resources already around them, connect people who can help, and turn those connections into action. For me, LakeSafe's innovation isn't one new product. It's a new way of organizing a community around
How many people are on your team?
25
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
Our 25-member youth team helps lead outreach, community events, water-safety education, communications, volunteer coordination, and life-jacket initiatives. I founded LakeSafe, but leadership isn't centered on me. Team members take ownership based on their strengths and interests, contribute ideas, and lead different parts of our work. Together, we have also mobilized 150+ volunteers and collaborate with 20+ partner organizations.
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
Over the next year, my biggest goal is to take what we have learned at Lake Sammamish and turn it into a model that other young people and communities can use. I want to launch a LakeSafe Youth Ambassador program that gives young people practical tools to identify water-safety gaps in their own communities, educate families, organize local projects, build partnerships, and eventually mentor the next group of youth leaders. I want LakeSafe to grow through young people leading in their own communities, not simply by having one central team do everything. We also plan to expand life-jacket access, strengthen our partnerships with parks, first responders, public-health agencies, schools, nonprofits, and community organizations, and bring more water-safety education directly to families. Another priority is measuring our impact more consistently. We want to track not only how many people attend an event, but also life jackets distributed and accessed, youth leaders trained, partnerships created, commitments completed, and communities adopting our model. Ultimately, my goal is to create a LakeSafe toolkit that another young person can pick up and use. I want someone in another community to be able to say, “My lake has a problem too,” and instead of wondering where to begin, have a roadmap, a network, and the confidence to take the first step.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
I have learned that people are more likely to join when they are given a real role in the solution, not just told that a problem exists. With LakeSafe, I try to make water safety personal and then give people a specific way to act. Someone can donate a life jacket, volunteer at an event, teach a family how to fit one correctly, help with outreach, connect us with a partner, or lead part of a project. So far, we have engaged 150+ volunteers, including a 25-member youth team, and built relationships with 20+ partner organizations. Young people have helped organize events, educate families, collect and prepare life jackets, create awareness, and lead outreach. Our partners have contributed expertise, resources, programming, public education, and access to the communities they serve. The LakeSafe Confluence took this idea even further. Instead of asking organizations simply to attend, we asked what each could commit to doing. More than 15 public commitments came from that gathering. I also share our message through community events, schools, social media, our website, and media opportunities. My goal isn't to make people followers of LakeSafe. I want them to realize that they already have something they can contribute and give them a meaningful way to use it.
