Landlocked Lakes

Promoting water safety on local lakes

Background Information

Fisher grew up in the Midwest, with limited access to waterways.  His family spent every long weekend descending the rivers of Southern Missouri alongside hundreds of other tourists. He found that communities with more recreational access to water can be significantly safer in terms of water related activities. When a community is less familiar with safe water practices, water becomes increasingly more dangerous. In his heavily landlocked community there seemed to be a lack of awareness for water safety. With once-a-year summer outings, people did not know basic safety principles and also didn’t see the need to learn them. On a small lake not far from his suburban area there has been a significant number of deaths despite being fairly unused by the majority of the community. This is a pretty safe lake with no outstanding hazards. All of these deaths were water-related, meaning they could have been prevented through safer practices.  Previously, there haven’t been compelling reasons to promote water safety.  Expressing the need for knowledge on safe practices can be just as important as teaching it because it encourages people to get out and learn.  Fisher believed it could be as simple as showing someone how to properly put on a life jacket or explaining cold shock. With Land-Locked-Lakes, Fisher seeks to promote water safety to a community in need through educational lessons along with informative posters and social media promotions. In an area with limited access to water there is a greater need to promote water safety as it may not be as ingrained in the culture. He hopes to help educate those in my community on how to be safer when spending time on our local lakes and rivers.

“I feel the multi-language posters will be fantastic for expanding the reach of [his] project” – Clinton Lake paddle boarder

Implementation of Project

When Fisher started work on the project, it was hard for him to know what direction to take the project to have the greatest positive effect. He was inspired at communal lifejacket stands, open to anyone for free, he had seen while out of town. He reached out out to local lakes to ask permission to establish similar stands. While waiting for responses, he created educational posters to put up. The goal was to grab people’s attention before they got on the water and provide brief water safety information.  Due to a diverse population in the areas he was posting information, he got help from his school’s Spanish teacher to create Spanish variants of his posters. At the time of publication, he has one community event scheduled for the Spring, and is awaiting approval from other lakes to host events on their waterfront.

“I am excited to see the turn out for Fisher’s meeting” – Johnson County representative for Shawnee Mission Park

Results of Project

Working with local Shawnee Mission Park, Clinton Lake, and Lake Quivira, Fisher will be providing over thirty free use life jackets across all three lakes. He hopes to reach a wider audience with the publication of videos describing the dangers of cold shock and alcohol consumption, and his infographic posters.

What’s Next

When Fisher departs from his Kansas City area, he will continue making videos and posters which will be put up by an underclassman at his school, Zayne Anderson. Zayne will also take over the maintenance of the lifejacket stands. Depending on where Fisher is headed, and the water access in the area, he may establish a new division of Land-Locked-Lakes at his new location.

“I am very happy for what I have achieved and I’m excited to see how my project grows over the spring and summer” – Fisher Reitz

“I will hopefully be taking over the project in Fall 2024. I hope to continue and expand the project before I go to college.” – Zayne Anderson