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Olympian advocates for water safety while celebrating area swim school’s anniversary

Cullen Jones at the Goldfish Swim School Wexford 10th Anniversary celebration

Local families learned about water safety from an Olympic gold medalist on Saturday.

Cullen Jones, a four-time Olympic medalist who competed in Beijing and London, was part of a celebration for the 10th anniversary of Goldfish Swim School’s Wexford location.

He tells us that while the community event was fun, it was also about water safety.

“I am an Olympian. I’ve been in the Olympics twice, and I nearly drowned at the age of five, so I can speak to how important it is that we can have kids in the water and give them a positive experience for their first time around water,” Jones said.

Jones said Goldfish’s mission is to get kids to learn to swim in general and often gives away lessons to help get kids in the water. That’s what the Wexford location did to mark this milestone anniversary, gave 10 area kids over $18,000 in free swim lessons.

“We know every child loves being in the water, we’ve got to give them the lessons to be smarter and safer around the water. And when I say smarter, I mean knowing what to do if there is, unfortunately, an emergency but more so we’re trying to prepare them to have fun around the water,” Jones said.

Jones said even though the weather is getting cold, this is still a good time to start preparing kids for next summer.

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