![\"Elyjha\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_0408.jpg\")
Elyjha was one of seven New Yorkers who drowned in the summer of 2024. Photo courtesy of Aminatu Noah<\/p>\nAminatu Noah always makes sure her son Elyjha\u2019s phone is charged. Every now and then, she likes to revisit his photos and videos he captured of them together \u2014 playing in the park, going to the movies, laughing, singing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI realized when he died, that he had made memories of everything. Everything is on this phone, and it keeps me alive,\u201d Noah said. \u201cThey say memories never die, and it helps when you can smile.\u201d<\/p>\n
The photos remind her of the 16-year-old whose Fortnite sessions kept her up at night, who dragged her to the Smorgasburg food festivals on weekends, who even used the money she gave him to buy his friends food, clothes and school supplies. In his phone, she also discovered new things about her son, like his passion for rapping, and his role as the friend that everyone came to for advice and encouragement.<\/p>\n
Elyjha was one of seven New Yorkers who drowned in the summer of 2024. Photo courtesy of Aminatu Noah<\/p>\n
Elyjha, a rising junior at the Academy for College Preparation & Career Exploration in Flatbush, went missing off Jacob Riis Beach on the evening of June 21, 2024 \u2014 just a week before his 17th birthday \u2014 along with his friend Christian Perkins, 17. The boys were two of seven New Yorkers to drown off city beaches that year.<\/p>\n
On some mornings, Noah\u2019s heart feels so heavy she struggles to get out of bed. But she always does. When not working in tech support at Brooklyn hospitals, she\u2019s in classrooms and public forums, sharing her story and stressing the importance of water safety awareness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI try to go everywhere I can to spread the word,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m just trying to do the work, save lives if I can, and not have any other family go through what I\u2019ve been dealing with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Noah\u2019s partner in advocacy is Kibret Perkins, Christian\u2019s mother. In May, they joined elected officials at the opening of Rockaway Beach<\/a> to honor their sons and advocate for improved water safety measures and awareness. The ceremony took place in the shadow of the drowning death of Brandon Figueroa<\/a>, an 18-year-old from the Bronx, who had gone missing just three days earlier.<\/p>\n Figueroa\u2019s death took a toll on Noah. \u201cI felt like I was reliving what his mother was going through, hearing she was at the beach, searching. I did that too \u2014 I was going to the beach every day,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last year, at least six people drowned off city beaches. Each loss reignites Noah\u2019s commitment to her mission.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just like, hey, this is happening too much. We\u2019ve got to do something about it,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n Elyjha and Christian didn\u2019t know the dangers of rip currents and ocean swimming. Noah knows far too many New York City teenagers share that awareness gap. She hopes her story conveys the devastating impact that rip currents can have on entire families; in Noah\u2019s case, the ocean took her only child.\u00a0<\/p>\n The most important audience for Noah is children in Black and brown communities like hers, who often have the least access to swim instruction in a city where free lessons are limited and private options price out<\/a> many working-class families.<\/p>\n Flatbush, where Noah raised Elyjha as a single mom, didn\u2019t have a public pool until this past February, when the $141 million Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center opened<\/a>. At the time of Elyjha\u2019s death, his high school, located in the Erasmus Hall Educational Campus, had a pool but no swimming instruction.<\/p>\n In 2025, the city launched the \u201cElyjha Chandler and Christian Perkins Swim for Life<\/a>\u201d class at Erasmus Hall as part of Mayor Eric Adams\u2019 $5.5 million investment to expand free swim safety classes \u2014 fulfilling a promise Adams made to Noah.\u00a0<\/p>\n In June, Noah told her story to the world in a video created by Rising Tide Effect<\/a>, a NYC-based water safety education nonprofit, as part of its campaign \u201cWater Wise<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In the video<\/a>, Noah imparts a simple message: know what a rip current is, never swim without a lifeguard, and what you learn today can save someone tomorrow.<\/p>\n The public service announcement is directed at \u201cthose who need to hear it most,\u201d said Rising Tide Effect\u2019s founder Kate Krause<\/a>, singling out 15-to 18-year-olds \u2014 who often go to the beach without parental supervision.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe are going to where they are, which is largely social media,\u201d Krause said. The video builds on \u201cRespect the Rip<\/a>,\u201d a rip current safety guide featured on MTA buses.<\/p>\n Krause, a water safety advocate and commissioner on the New York State Temporary Commission to Prevent Childhood Drowning<\/a>, met Noah a few months after Elyjha\u2019s death. The two have been friends and close collaborators in advocacy ever since. Noah regularly speaks to Krause\u2019s youth Swim Corps participants, and, earlier this month, took her first swim lesson ever with Krause.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt became clear to me that I need to lift her voice and help her get the message out because we believe that a mother\u2019s voice can do what statistics cannot do,\u201d Krause said.<\/p>\n The burden of spreading water safety awareness shouldn\u2019t fall on the shoulders of advocates and grieving parents, Noah said \u2014 which is why she\u2019s pushing for mandated water safety instruction in all schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI realized there\u2019s so many kids who don\u2019t know about swim safety,\u201d she said. \u201cWhy not start in the schools? Why not make it part of their curriculum?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n A 332-page report<\/a> by the commission from last September leads with a recommendation to \u201cmake water safety education a mandatory component of the PreK-12 curriculum in all schools, regardless of the availability of a pool classroom facility.\u201d<\/p>\n The water safety curriculum doesn\u2019t actually require a pool at all, Krause said, so it should be easy to implement universally \u2014 at least in theory.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n However, despite persistent efforts from lawmakers and advocates alike, mandating water safety education in New York schools has so far been a Sisyphean task.\u00a0<\/p>\n The New York State Senate and Assembly are mulling three proposals to mandate statewide water safety instruction in schools, introduced by state Sens. Joseph Addabbo of Queens, state Sen. Cordell Cleare of Manhattan, and Assembly Member Stacey Pheffer Amato, also from Queens. This is Addabbo\u2019s seventh-straight attempt to mandate such instruction.\u00a0<\/p>\n New York City council members and the Mayor\u2019s Office have tried to improve access to water safety education, to varying degrees of success. In 2023, a City Council bill requiring swim classes for all second-graders<\/a> passed, but Adams later cut it from the budget. The $5.5 million he later committed to boost swim programs brought instruction to 18,000 second-graders, about a quarter of the total second-grade population<\/a> in NYC\u2019s public schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n On June 12<\/a>, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced an expansion of the city\u2019s summer \u201cLearn to Swim<\/a>\u201d program to reach some 16,000 minors, up from nearly 6,000 last year \u2014 although it serves a limited number of children through a lottery system.<\/p>\n Some lawmakers have taken another route to prevent drownings: improving pool infrastructure, lifeguard corps, and access to educational resources. City Council recently passed a law<\/a> requiring the Department of Parks and Recreation to develop written water safety material for public school students. A similar bill, the Every Child a Swimmer Act<\/a>, was signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul last September.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n These legislative actions represent meaningful progress, but fall short of the curriculum mandates advocates like Krause and Noah are fighting for.\n<\/p>\n \u201cNot enough is being done, and we cannot get comfortable or complacent,\u201d Krause said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n While Noah acknowledges progress is moving slowly, she remains optimistic.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \u201cThey say everything takes time. This is just the beginning,\u201d she said. She hopes to meet with Mamdani to make a direct plea for mandated water safety instruction, as well as other immediate changes.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to get more signs on these beaches, we have to get more lifeguards. We have got to do better,\u201d she said. She and Perkins are calling to extend lifeguard shifts past 6 p.m., as many drownings off city beaches, like Elyjha and Christian\u2019s, occur after hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n The city has climbed out of the urgent lifeguard shortage<\/a> of past summers \u2014 it staffed 1,082 in 2025 and is on pace to pass that this year following an \u201caggressive recruitment campaign,\u201d per a NYC Parks spokesperson. The city has also unveiled a new fleet of \u201cgator\u201d vehicles<\/a> to improve lifeguard response times, and works with a partner agency to identify swimmers in distress using drones.\u00a0<\/p>\n Noah also wants the National Park Service, which manages Jacob Riis Park, to erect a memorial for Elyjha and Christian, which would remind swimmers of the dangers posed by rip currents, and the profound loss that some families have faced because of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n Noah says she\u2019s lucky. She has a strong support system, including friends, family, Perkins, and Elyjha\u2019s friends, who call or visit her a few times a week. Watching them graduate high school and begin their lives while carrying the grief they share brings her deep pride and hope, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n On June 20, Noah and Perkins held their second annual basketball tournament in memory of their sons at Foster Park in Flatbush, where Elyjha would often hoop after school. They hoped for about 70 kids \u2014 over 300 showed up. Noah\u2019s heart felt less heavy that day.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some days are harder than others, but Noah always has her support system behind her, telling her to keep going.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just trying my best to keep my head above ground each day I get up, because I know there\u2019s a bigger mission,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is not about me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aminatu Noah always makes sure her son Elyjha\u2019s phone is charged. Every now and then, she likes to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[3087,116884,116885,98,100,99,116886,116887,1882,15343,111914,67,116888,116889,1873,2953,116890,116891,116892,116893,92995,9,24,12,370,63,75446,308,116894,116895,5271,116896,116897,11472,108518],"class_list":["post-308920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-advocacy","tag-aminatu-noah","tag-beach-safety","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-childhood-drowning","tag-christian-perkins","tag-community","tag-drowning","tag-drowning-prevention","tag-education","tag-eliyjha-noah","tag-elyjha-chandler","tag-flatbush","tag-health","tag-jacob-riis-beach","tag-kate-krause","tag-kibret-perkins","tag-learn-to-swim","tag-lifeguards","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-nyc","tag-pools","tag-public-safety","tag-rip-currents","tag-rising-ride-effect","tag-schools","tag-shirley-chisholm-recereation-center","tag-swim-lessons","tag-swimming","tag-water-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"drowning](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/KK-AN-KP-at-NY1.jpg\")
Noah and Kibret Perkins share their stories in public forums across the city to advocate for better water safety education. Photo courtesy of Aminatu Noah<\/p>\n![\"shirley](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/55087162015_0d328edd74_4k.jpg\")
The pool at Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center (pictured, at right) is the only public pool in Flatbush. Photo courtesy of Michael Appleton\/Mayoral Photography Office<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_1096.jpg\")
Noah regularly speaks to Krause\u2019s Swim Corps students and took her first lesson earlier this month. Photo courtesy of Kate Krause<\/p>\n![\"mamdani](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/DSC_7627_440ccd.webp\")
Mayor Zohran Mamdani expanded the city\u2019s Learn to Swim program this summer.File photo by Lloyd Mitchell<\/p>\n![\"lifeguard](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/A11_20260519_1F5A7591_Erica-Price.jpg\")
Noah and Perkins are pushing to extend lifeguard hours on city beaches. File photo by Erica Price<\/p>\n![\"aminatu](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/MixCollage-29-Jul-2026-12-09-PM-1127.jpg\")
Noah carries her son\u2019s memory with her, and regularly speaks with his friends, who are moving on to new phases of their lives. Photos courtesy of Aminatu Noah<\/p>\n