USA Swimming, the nation's governing body for competitive swimming, partnered with Alloy Media + Marketing to invite 30,000 elementary schools nationwide to participate in a new contest on its third annual April Pool's Day.
Students from kindergarten to grade six starting April 1 can log onto the site at winpoolparty.com and sign the USA Swimming Water Safety Pledge, which is a vote for their school to win the Ultimate Pool Party.
Alloy is promoting the contest and water safety in 5,000 schools through 360 School Voice, its in-school publication. Kids are being asked to visit the Web site and vote. The four schools with the most votes nationwide each win an Ultimate Pool Party celebration, with an appearance by a member of the 2004 U.S. Olympic swim team.
The winning schools also each get a $1,000 donation from USA Swimming to help with school programs. Four runners-up schools receive $500 apiece. USA Swimming and Alloy will count the votes at the end of April.
Alloy is supplying 2,000 schools with USA Swimming water safety kits, claiming to reach 1 million kids this way. Through a targeted e-mail program, Alloy will contact parents and educate them on water safety and details of the contest.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drowning is the No. 1 cause of death for children under age 5. It is the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death for children ages 1-14.
In another frightening statistic from the Drowning Prevention Foundation, 19 percent of drownings involving children occur in public schools with certified lifeguards present.
The CDC estimates there were 3,281 unintentional drownings in the United States, or an average of nine per day, in 2000, the latest year for which numbers were made available.
