Years after tragic drowning, young swimmer’s legacy lives on in Southlake and beyond

The summer of 2016 was an exciting time for 13-year-old Elise Cerami. Like many youngsters just exiting the eighth grade, she couldn’t wait to move on to high school and the thrilling next step to adulthood.

Adding to her anticipation, she was preparing to make her debut on the Southlake Carroll High School swim team that fall. Much of her summer was to be spent honing the skills that had earned her that position after trying out in the eighth grade.

Then came June 20, the day the talented young swimmer’s life came to a shocking end. She drowned just a short distance from others, silently floating to the bottom of the pool before some teammates saw her and pulled her to the surface, trying to no avail to revive her.

Years later, Elise’s legacy lives on through the Swim4Elise Foundation, started by her family a few months after her death. The foundation is devoted to raising water safety awareness and saving lives, along with providing youths with scholarships for college, to become lifeguards or attend safety camps.

How did it happen?

The autopsy report simply noted that Elise drowned. To this day no one knows what caused a youngster with the kind of talent that creates dreams of perhaps one day even swimming professionally or in the Olympics to drown.

“We asked ourselves a thousand times, ‘How does a competitive swimmer drown?’” said her mother, Lori Cerami. “Elise was a healthy 13-year-old girl who swam competitively for seven years. She was in the middle of her warmup during a morning practice.

“How could she drown? It happens when no one is watching. Sadly, Elise drowned eight feet from an empty lifeguard chair while her coach was in the office getting coffee.”

The coach, Tracey Anne Boyd, was found guilty of abandonment and endangerment of a child by criminal negligence in 2019 and sentenced to three years probation. She has since moved from the area.

While the cause of her drowning remains a mystery, Cerami said one thing is not. Anyone can drown any time, but it can be prevented with more caution and awareness.

“Public pool or private pool, it can happen. Elise’s drowning brings attention to the critical role of a designated and capable water watcher,” Cerami said.

A water watcher is just that, someone who watches and monitors others in the water, always ready in the event of an emergency to jump in and come to the rescue.

Start and growth

“When a kid dies in your community it is catastrophic,” Southlake Mayor John Huffman said. “But what Lori has done, turning that into something good and helping others is amazing.

“Lori has made sure Elise’s legacy is something special.”

Originally, the nonprofit started as a way to offer swim camp and college scholarships to swimmers. Later, when the family learned that Elise’s teammates were the ones who pulled her out of the water, the foundation added scholarships for swimmers to gain in-water rescue skills via a lifeguard certification.

“We want to raise awareness that even after someone knows how to swim, they are not drown-proof. Regardless of age or swimming ability, knowing how to swim and having a designated and capable water watcher/lifeguard is the safest plan,” Cerami said. “Hence, we share Elise’s story with aquatics professionals and families even beyond North Texas.”

Wherever there are listening ears, Cerami has made sure Elise’s story is shared, at the state level and national level at aquatic conferences and EMS conferences, remote lectures, social media and published articles.

“We have also been able to share Elise’s story and water safety feedback from swimmers with the American Red Cross to help make the sport of swimming safer,” she said.

Cerami noted that through research she learned of a nationwide organization of families devoted to the same mission as Swim4Elise.

“While we were blessed to live in Southlake, Texas, where our hometown community supported us in countless ways, we were surprised to learn that a community of families raising awareness about water safety already existed,” she said. “Families United to Prevent Drowning is a collective voice of families who have lost loved ones to drowning and are actively sharing their loved one’s story to raise awareness for others. Sadly, while drowning is preventable the collection of stories continues to grow.

The organization’s motto is “Not one more drowning.” The foundation borrowed from that slogan to create one of their own, “Not one more Elise.”

Scholarships

Cerami anticipates by the end of 2023, the foundation will have paid for 100 swimmers to get lifeguard certifications. In dollars, they’ve awarded over $20,000. They have also granted over 40 college scholarships at $1,500 to $2,500 per scholarship, more than $65,000, along with over 15 camp scholarships at $1,000 to $1,200 each.

The swim camp/college scholarships are limited to the following North Texas counties: Tarrant, Wise, Denton, Collin, Dallas, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker and Rockwall. Day care classroom education is primarily in Tarrant County and immediate surroundings counties.

The daughter of Mansfield Lake Ridge High School swim coach Blake Kahla was the recipient of one the scholarships last summer. She attended the UT Longhorn week-long summer swim camp in Austin.

“This year 2023, I have already had several high school swimmers receive scholarships to receive lifeguard training,” he said. “The more athletes we have trained in lifeguard skills, the more we can be on the lookout to help others in need.

“Swim4Elise provides a valuable asset to the community because people of all ages need to make safe, smart choices while having fun in the water.”

Emergency Action Plans

To be prepared for in-water emergencies, lifeguards practice Emergency Action Plans. Just as kids practice fire drills in schools, swimmers practice these drills help make lifeguards be more aware of water emergencies.

The foundation goes even farther. The Elise Pre-EAP encourages aquatic programs to include swimmers in safety training. Swimmers can learn to respond early, be aware and be prepared.

“We have shared the Elise Pre-EAP with a number of aquatic programs. We are hopeful to get USA Swimming to adopt a short water safety awareness training with their swimmers that would include Elise’s Story and the Elise Pre-EAP,” Cerami said.

“USA Swimming has over 300,000 USA swimming athletes. We are hopeful that Elise’s story will be shared with all of them and with other aquatics programs across the US through the Elise Pre-EAP.”

Through Elise Pre-EAP comes such safety measures as early identification of drowning, being aware that strong swimmers can drown, and understanding at-risk conditions. These include fatigue, muscle cramp, dehydration, low electrolytes, hypothermia and sudden illness.

And, always being prepared to get help. Get a lifeguard or coach. Know where to find the 911 phone and safety equipment.

Day care lessons

“We were heartbroken to learn about the drowning statistics for kids in Texas, so we then added water safety classroom education for children in daycare centers,” Cerami said.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services reports that 824 youngsters drowned in Texas from 2013-2022, with a peak of 107 in the year Elise died and a low of 73 in 2013. So far in 2023 there have been nine drownings, but most occur in the summer months.

“Drowning is the leading cause of injury death for kids ages 1-4 and Texas loses 70-100 kids each year to fatal drownings, while five to eight times that number visit the ER for nonfatal drownings,” Cerami said. “Since 2017, we know that our North Texas Daycare classroom education has been shared with over 24,000 children completely free. It’s free because we did not want cost to be the reason a child didn’t learn the importance of water safety. We believe that sharing Elise’s story along with the water watcher concept has saved hundreds of children in North Texas.”

Vicki Poole began with the foundation in 2018 and now runs the day care program. She said each summer the program grows by adding approximately 10 new schools.

“As a former resident of Southlake, parent of a swimmer, and elementary teacher, Elise’s story hits close to home,” she said. “It has had quite an impact on the community, surrounding areas, and myself. It has been evident through the overwhelming response I receive when I’m calling to schedule our lessons. I often hear, ‘Yes! We remember you coming last year, and look forward to your return.’

“We also receive emails from parents telling us that their child states, ‘Mommy/daddy I need to have a water watcher,’ or ‘Will you sign me up for swim lessons?’ This means even the littlest ones are learning water safety.

“Personally, I am constantly watching the water anytime I am by a pool, beach, or lake. I am anxious to share with others how to be safe.”

Honored by school district

In January, the Carroll school board voted unanimously to rename the district’s aquatic center to honor Elise. It is now the Elise Cerami Aquatics Center.

“Our family is very grateful for the naming of the Aquatic Center after Elise. It honors her life and acknowledges the work we are doing to raise awareness,” Cerami said. “Elise loved swimming and would want others to share that passion for water related activities.”

Cerami added that Elise’s name being on the center will also help spread the word about the foundation’s mission.

“We believe people will ask about Elise. Once they know her, she will live in their hearts where the message of water safety will have greater meaning,” she said.

“It was great to see the school district honor her like that,” Huffman said. “It’s a great way to remember her that will last for a long time.”

Still more to do

While a lot more is being done to raise awareness of water safety, Cerami said the challenge is getting society to see that it applies to them. She noted that, as a society, the common thought is that once a person knows how to swim they are safe in the water.

“Statistically, we are only 80% safe in the water after we know how to swim. Unexpected things can still happen. Many people let their guard down around water and water can be unpredictable,” she said. “While we could be more prepared around water, we don’t always put those things in place.

“In general, our society can be complacent when it comes to water.”

Huffman stressed that drowning can happen to anyone, child or adult.

“It’s really changed the way I look at water safety,” he said. “If I’m somewhere and there’s not a watcher, I’ll do that.

“I truly believe Lori is saving lives.”