The first of a planned lineup of events to celebrate International Water Safety Day was held at the BCYF Curley Community Center in South Boston on Tuesday (May 14), hosted by the City of Boston’s Swim Safe initiative. The event featured a panel of water safety experts from Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston Medical Center, and two former Olympic swimmers.

The event aimed to underscore the importance of water safety, not just for kids that do not know how to swim but adults as well, and to improve access to swim lessons as well as highlighting city lifeguard jobs.

The panel assembled at the Curley Center on Tuesday included, from left to right: Petrina Martin, Barbara DiGirolamo, Janelle Atkinson, Cullen Jones, José Massó. Taylor Brokesh photo

Boston’s chief of human services, José Massó, explained why the Curley Community Center was chosen as the venue for this particular event.

“We chose this site for two reasons,” Massó said. “First, this site happens to be one of four BCYF community centers that we reopened last year.”

BCYF Paris Street in East Boston, BCYF Marshall in Dorchester, and BCYF Mattahunt in Mattapan were the other community center pools that reopened last year along with Curley after problems arose after years of delayed maintenance, among other issues, that the Reporter covered.

“Second,” Massó said, “as many of you probably remember, a 4-year-old boy lost his life on Castle Island, just down the road from the structured beach, exactly one year ago today.”

Students from Dorchester's Murphy K-8 School demonstrate their swimming techniques during the swim safety program that travelled across the city to several sites on Wednesday.

Last May, Mohamed Fofana, 4, disappeared from view of his grandfather while playing at the Castle Island Playground, and ended up drowning. Fofana was autistic and nonverbal.

Another tragedy happened in 2017 when a 7-year-old Dorchester boy, Kyzr Willis, drowned at Carson Beach, near the L Street center.

“Today is a time for both reflection and celebration,” Massó said, “as well as a time to move forward and make commitments to doing more.”

The panel featured Petrina Martin, vice president of community engagement and external affairs at the Boston Medical Center; Barbara DiGirolamo, injury prevention coordinator at Boston Children’s Hospital; former Olympic swimmer Cullen Jones, who took home the gold in both 2008 in Beijing and 2012 in London with Team USA; and former Olympic Janelle Atkinson, who represented Jamaica at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

Atkinson explained how her parents in Jamaica “forced” her and her two siblings to take swimming lessons when they were children, yet all three siblings became professional swimmers. Jones then told the story of how he had to be resuscitated at a water park when he was five years old, but then a coach he had when he was a child inspired him to pursue swimming when he was eight.

Martin said that the two most important aspects that the city needs to target when it comes to swim safety were “education and access.”

“I think for a long time, the narrative has been, ‘well, Black people don’t swim,’” she said, then gestured to herself, Atkinson and Jones. “But yes, we do! And I think, when we give the entire community, no matter where you live, access to a pool, and education on swimming and water safety, and then they see people like Janelle and Cullen be Olympians, they can aspire to not just learn how to swim, and not just be a lifeguard, but be a professional.”

“I really want to make sure that I remember this day,” Massó said at the end of the panel. “To our Swim Safe partners, we’re just getting started. We’re less than a year into this program. Let’s continue to think about what we’re going to research, how we’re going to get more lifeguards, and how we can continue to improve the pipeline of future swimmers.”

You can visit boston.gov/swim-safe to learn more about the Swim Safe program, register to be a lifeguard, or request free life jackets.

Boston Human Services Chief Jose Massó, a student volunteer, USA Olympic swimmer Cullen Jones, Murphy Principal Courtney Sheppeck, a student volunteer, and Jamaican Olympic swimmer Janelle Atkinson pose for a photo after the Murphy School program on Wednesday morning.