Bellmore-Merrick students teach water safety to younger peers

Dylan Bazelnov and Ilan Tumarinson are 17-year-old Merrick residents, lifeguards, varsity swimmers, rising seniors and peers in John F. Kennedy High School’s leadership program — where they created a project that contributes to a cause they are both passionate about: swimming safety for kids.

The leadership program at Kennedy encourages students to become young leaders in their community, as juniors are tasked with completing a civics project, which has meaningful impact in and around the Bellmore-Merrick communities. 

“We both knew that teaching kids how to swim and preventing drowning was really where we wanted to put all of our focus,” Bazelnov said. “We reached out to our state representatives, and we asked for them to proceed on a bill, which basically would provide funding for drowning prevention and swimming safety.”

The first part of the duo’s plan was to visit the Norman J. Levy Lakeside Elementary School in Merrick last school year, where they spoke to first and second graders about swimming skill levels, first-aid kit usage, risks in the water, safety flags, and having appropriate supervision.

“It was great because I really felt like the kids were all engaged, and everyone came out learning what it’s like to be safe in and around the water,” Bazelnov said. “It was great to be able to make a change like that.”

Bazelnov found the success of the lesson with the students to be emboldening, and seeks to continue developing it out of school.

“Now that school is over, I have more time on my hands,” Bazelnov said. “I spend that time working — my job entails helping kids learn how to swim, and not just kids that have fear of swimming, but also kids that have disabilities which prevent them from swimming as easily as other children.”

Bazelnov’s road to learning how to swim started out rough, he recounted. At age 4, he was terrified of the water, but as he became more comfortable with his swimming lessons, he began to teach his siblings how to swim as well — which set him on his current path.

“I feel like it’s very important to know how to swim,” Bazelnov said. “Because if you’ve been living in Long Island, we’re surrounded by water all the time, and it’s very important to know how to stay safe in and around the water.”

Tumarinson has been competitively swimming since he was 9, and completed his third year on the high school’s varsity swim team last school year, he said.

A disturbing trend in New York State spurred the duo to undertake the project, Tumarinson said. According to recent data from the New York State Department of Health, the number of drowning victims the past four years has been at its highest rate since 1998. Statewide, between 2019 and 2020, drowning deaths increased 32 percent.

“I’ve been teaching kids how to swim for the past three years and noticed it’s a huge problem across New York,” Tumarinson said. “It really made me think, ‘Wow, this has to be a serious issue.’ Also this hasn’t been really talked about in elementary schools. There’s no education around it — where do you see education about water safety training? There’s none, unless you have to pay for it.”

After providing swim safety lessons to Levy students, the duo took on a project on a much larger scale — changing state policy.

In the New York State Legislature, a bill was enacted last year, creating a temporary commission to prevent childhood drowning in the state. The commission evaluates and creates programs to educate children and caregivers about water safety protocols.

Bazelnov and Tumarinson reached out to State Assemblyman David McDonough, whose office is in Bellmore, and received a return letter, with the assemblyman agreeing to move towards extending the bill for an additional 18 months. The extension bill was signed into law on June 30.

“It feels amazing — I want to do more and more,” Tumarinson said. “I want to reach out to New York City schools because we’ve been only doing it around Long Island.”

Both students thanked their leadership program teacher, Brad Seidman, for helping them find opportunities to make their project become a reality.

“Dylan and Ilan are examples of the type of students at Kennedy that help make it a positive place for learning,” Seidman said, “and help create a school culture where students feel empowered to do things that are meaningful to them and their education.”

In the upcoming school year, Bazelnov and Tumarinson will be enrolled in the third and final phase of the leadership program, where they will continue to develop their skills in and out of the classroom.

“One of the goals of the school and community leadership program at Kennedy is to create role models, to create positive change-makers, and the two of them definitely achieve that,” Seidman said.