Safety Around Water — Greater Joliet Area YMCA

2025 Summer Water Safety Programs at the YMCA Help Children Build Invaluable Life Skills

August 22, 2025

As America’s most trusted swim lesson instructor, the YMCA has been teaching kids how to swim for more than 100 years. Swim lessons at the YMCA help kids stay fit, healthy, and strong when they spend time in and around water. But, most importantly, they gain confidence and learn vital water safety skills that will last a lifetime.

The YMCA’s Swim Lesson Curriculum is based on a continuum that focuses on a skill-based progression that builds confidence and supports skill development swimmers of all ages. This summer, the Greater Joliet Area YMCA was proud to once again provide swim lessons through our “Go Blue” and Safety Around Water initiatives.

“Go Blue”

The “Go Blue” Water Safety Program was offered as a part of summer day camp activities at the C.W. Avery Family YMCA, Galowich Family YMCA, and Morris Hospital YMCA. At the start of the summer, campers completed mandatory swim tests before entering the pool and, based on their swimming abilities, received a red, yellow, or blue wristband. To “Go Blue” meant that swimmers had enough strength, skill, and confidence to pass the YMCA’s blue swim test, which included jumping into the deep end of the pool, treading water, and swimming the length of the pool using a front crawl stroke without stopping.

To improve their swimming skills, all red and yellow wristband campers participated in 15-minute swim lessons each week with the goal of “Going Blue” by the end of summer.

This year’s program served 606 campers and provided 3,168 swim lessons over the course of the summer. Here are the exciting results!

	Start of Summer	End of Summer
Red Swimmers	35.99%	26.22%
Yellow Swimmers	31.11%	23.45%
Blue Swimmers	32.90%	50.33%

During the first week of summer camp, only one third of the campers attained the highest swim level when tested. By the end of the final week of testing, more than half the campers had gone ‘Blue.’ Additionally, 60 campers that were previously required to wear life jackets when using YMCA pools as red level swimmers improved to a swim level where a life jacket was no longer needed.

Safety Around Water

Youth in Joliet and the surrounding communities also received invaluable swim lesson instruction through the Safety Around Water program this summer at the Galowich Family YMCA. Made possible thanks to the generosity of local businesses and grantors, including the United Way of Will County, the program provided a series of free 30-minute swim lessons to children from the Y’s Salvation Army summer day camp site, the Boys and Girls Club of Joliet, the Harvey Brooks Foundation, Laraway School, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will/Grundy County. In total, 144 children received Safety Around Water instruction with 597 lessons completed. Below are their amazing swim test results!

	Start of Summer	End of Summer
Red Swimmers	56.25%	43.06%
Yellow Swimmers	22.22%	26.39%
Blue Swimmers	21.53%	30.56%

At the start of summer, more than half of Safety Around Water participants required the use of a life jacket when entering the pool as red swimmers. We were so proud to see that figure reduced by more than 13 percent by the end of summer. As a result of the Y’s summer Safety Around Water program, 13 children improved their swimming abilities, earning their blue wristband by passing the Y’s blue swim test.

We would like to thank the staff members on our amazing YMCA aquatics teams as well as the generous efforts of volunteer swim instructors for helping children learn these life-saving skills this summer.

If you would like to help support Safety Around Water by donating to the YMCA Mission Strong Fund, you can do so below.

Donate Today

And, if you are interested in becoming a volunteer swim instructor, click here.

YMCA Safety Around Water Program Helps Children Build Invaluable Life Skills During 2024-25 School Year

June 6, 2025

Aquatics programs at the Y include Safety Around Water (SAW), which allows the Y to partner with several local community agencies and schools to ensure that children in the Joliet area have the opportunity to learn to swim and enjoy recreation time at the Y at no cost.

During the 2024-25 school year, Safety Around Water provided a series of free 30-minute lessons for fourth grade students from Troy School District 30C and elementary and middle school students from Fairmont School District 89.

At the beginning of each swim lesson session, students complete swim tests to determine their swimming ability and receive a red, yellow, or blue wristband, indicating their YMCA swim level:

Red level swimmers are required to use a lifejacket when visiting YMCA pools
Yellow level swimmers may swim without life jackets, but may not go past the 5-foot depth markers in Y pools
Blue level swimmers demonstrate enough strength, skill, and confidence to enter at the deep end, tread water, and swim the length of the pool using a front crawl stroke without stopping

In total, 228 children received Safety Around Water instruction during the 2024-2025 school year and the Y provided more than 1,040 lessons overall. Here are the amazing results:

	Start of Lessons	End of Lessons
Red Swimmers	58.77%	39.48%
Yellow Swimmers	22.37%	26.75%
Blue Swimmers	18.86%	33.77%

At the start of lessons, more than half of Safety Around Water participants required the use of a life jacket when entering the pool as red level swimmers. We were so proud to see that figure reduced by nearly 20 percent – a total of 44 children. Another 34 students improved to become blue level swimmers.

“The Safety Around Water program takes a village to run and it couldn’t have been done without the amazing staff of swim instructors we have at the Y, as well as the volunteer instructors from the Rotary Club of Joliet who assisted along the way,” Galowich Family YMCA Aquatics Director Catie Wallis said. “Learning these swim skills will have an incredible impact on the lives of students throughout our community.”

Safety Around Water activities will continue throughout the summer as the Y welcomes children from the Boys & Girls Club of Joliet, Harvey Brooks Foundation, iLead, Laraway CCSD 70C, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will/Grundy County, and YMCA Salvation Army Summer Camp!

*Safety Around Water is made possible through the generosity of local businesses and grantors, including the United Way of Will County. If you would like to help support Safety Around Water by donating to the YMCA Mission Strong Fund, you can do so below.

Donate Today

And, if you are interested in becoming a volunteer swim instructor, click here.

Making An Impact: Matthew Ruggiero and Cristal Ortiz’s Story

February 12, 2020

At the Y, we are focused on providing opportunities that have a lasting impact on the lives of our members, staff and volunteers. We also take pride in those who choose to give back as a result of their Y experiences. Within the Y’s Safety Around Water program, which provides free swim lessons to students from Joliet area schools, volunteer swim instructors Matthew Ruggiero and Cristal Ortiz are great examples of how the Y experience can come full circle.

Matthew’s Story

Matthew, a junior at Lincoln-Way West High School, started taking swim lessons at the Smith Family YMCA when he was just five years old. At the age of 7, he joined the JETS Swim Team and swam in the program for seven years. For the last year, Matthew has worked as a lifeguard at the Y, and recently expressed an interest in becoming a volunteer swim instructor after a chance encounter with the YMCA’s Safety Around Water program.

“I was at the Y with a friend before work and we were asked to demonstrate dives for some of the students and I thought that was fun,” Matthew said.

Cristal’s Story

Cristal, a student at Joliet Junior College, learned to swim in fifth grade when she had the opportunity to participate in the Y’s Safety Around Water program (then known as Project SOAR) while attending A.O. Marshall Elementary School. She first heard about opportunities to volunteer at the Y through a friend on social media. She has been a volunteer swim instructor in the Safety Around Water Program for over a year, drawing on her personal experiences to help teach students in her weekly lessons.

“I’ve lived in Joliet all my life and I’ve always loved the water and swimming. We would come to the Y on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I remember being excited about being able to go in the deep end,” she said. “Learning to swim is a lot of work, but it’s supposed to be fun. You have to make sure everyone feels comfortable and safe.”

Skills that Last a Lifetime

Both Matthew and Cristal agreed that their time volunteering at the YMCA has been incredibly rewarding.

“The students are always cool. I remember the first time that someone called me ‘Coach Matthew’ and it’s just the best feeling. I never thought I would hear that,” Matthew said. “I also feel like this has helped with my communication skills. I’m not the most talkative person and being around other people is helping, especially instructing a younger group of people.”

Cristal expressed similar feelings.

“It’s done a lot for my confidence. I’ve learned from the other instructors and become a better teacher, and even a better swimmer myself,” she said.

Matthew and Cristal also acknowledged the strong sense of community they feel each and every time they walk into the doors of the Smith Family YMCA.

“We’re a team and a family. All of us work together to help our students and our members,” Cristal said.

“Whether it was when I was with JETS or the people I work with at the Y now, everyone is relatable. We have definitely built a community,” Matthew said.

We thank Matthew and Cristal for volunteering at the Y and helping us in our mission to serve the community. If you would like to volunteer in our Safety Around Water program, or are interested in becoming a Y lifeguard, please contact:

Catie Wallis
Smith Family YMCA Aquatics Director
(815) 726-3939, ext. 417
[email protected]