West Ottawa High School senior Raighen Ly wrote an article for the school newspaper, The West Ottawan, polling students to see how many participated in pier jumping into Lake Michigan during the summer months. The results were surprising: About 70% of students responded that they did.
“Kids and high schoolers don’t know the risk they’re taking,” Ly says. “You can take as many swim lessons as you want, but you’ll never be able to fight against a current that’s holding you against rocks underwater. Pier jumping alone is a risk too many people are willing to take, and it’s one that’s just not worth it. Beyond that, simply just swimming in Lake Michigan poses a risk.”
These are risks that students in West Ottawa’s Interact Club are trying to reduce. Ly, president of the club, meets periodically with 15 other students and several adults to tackle the growing issue of pier and water safety.
“As a community so close to the water, we have really normalized deaths in our Great Lakes,” says Ly. “For a state that’s known for its waters, we don’t really do a good job protecting people who want to have fun in our water. So, that’s kind of my reasoning for joining Interact Club.”
Interact Club is the high school equivalent of a Rotary Club, and students run meetings like Rotary meetings.
“Once we got our feet on the ground, we started to work on our water safety initiative,” Ly says. “Part of this initiative is getting youth informed, especially in West Ottawa’s district. We have lost some of our own students to Lake Michigan, and I don’t think our community needs another loss. If we can teach youth in our area how to get out of a rip current, we’ll save a lot more lives. There is a proactive and preventative aspect to this whole initiative, and that includes what conditions cause a rip current, what it looks like, and where to look for them. The sooner we inform people, the sooner parents can feel comfortable with their kids playing in such an underestimated danger.”
![]()
Interact Club is the high school equivalent of a Rotary Club, and students run meetings like Rotary meetings.
A voice for students
Charles Elwood, who was part of the Rotary in Holland and then the Rotaract Club, helped bring the Interact Club to West Ottawa High School and is the voice of the students at Park Township meetings.
“Many of the students participate in water sports and activities or have family members who do, and they’re always worried,” explains Elwood. “We don’t want to be searching for bodies, we want to prevent the bodies up front by being proactive and educating others.”
Park Township has been gathering public safety departments (fire, sheriff, the state Department of Natural Resources, etc.) to discuss how to best educate the public, and — since young adults make up the majority of water deaths — the Interact Club is now part of those discussions.
“There is a lot of discussion around creating a beach patrol and adding water safety classes in schools,” shares Elwood. “So the kids are starting to raise funds and resources to fund this park initiative.”
Initiative is personal
West Ottawa junior Andrew Spilotro joined the Interact Club, thanks to a classmate who told him about the pier and water safety initiative.
“I enjoy going to the beach in the summer and boating, which is part of why I was interested in joining the Interact Club,” Spilotro says. “When my friend Joey told me about the club's initiative, I was immediately interested and thought it was a great goal, considering the number of drownings that take place in the Great Lakes every year, and the lack of proactive intervention to prevent these tragedies.”
The club’s initiative is personal for Spilotro, as well as for many of the other students.
“This initiative is very important to me because I've lived here in West Michigan all my life and, thinking about losing a family member, a friend, a teacher, or anyone to the lake because there weren't sufficient measures to help them, is a scary thought,” he shares. “My dad has been wakeboarding on Lake Michigan for years, and he has witnessed people lost to the water, so he has always preached to me to be safe on the lake. I believe there needs to be genuine action to prevent these drownings or else we will continue to lose people.”
![]()
Several ideas are being mapped out and worked on within Park Township and the Interact Club, from beach patrols to water safety classes to drones that can locate those who are drowning.
Mapping out ideas
Several ideas are being mapped out and worked on within Park Township and the Interact Club, from beach patrols to water safety classes to drones that can locate those who are drowning. The students will continue to educate and raise funds in an effort to get more of these bigger efforts off the ground.
“As we fundraise, we expect to see a large uptick in the precautions people take when it comes to water safety,” Ly says. “This club means a lot to me, and I’m really proud of my club members and friends who’ve taken part in it. We’re making a huge difference in this issue, and it is thanks to the kids in this club who are working every day to push our project further.”
Elwood adds he will do what it takes to help these students achieve their goals.
“The connections the kids are making are just so beautiful,” he says. “Their reach is huge and goes beyond local. You can see it when they speak; they’re speaking from the heart. And so many of them have had near-drowning experiences.”