Spreading Amoeba Awareness

September 16, 2021

By: Renata Blatt, 2021-2022 Steinbrenner FFA Vice President

Steinbrenner FFA is a two time, three star National FFA Chapter, which is one of the highest awards we can receive from the National FFA Organization. We achieve this by completing a series of 15 activities that correlate with specific topics or themes. Some of these include career success, stakeholder engagement; agriculture literacy, and many more.

To kick off this years National Chapter application we chose to focus on the Healthy Lifestyles sub-category. We do this activity in hopes of improving student health and well-being. We wanted to choose an activity that would not only be impactful, but also relevant. Because of this we chose to host an Amoeba Awareness week to spread awareness for the deadly amoeba found in all fresh water, including lakes in our hometown of Lutz.

In the summer of 2020 Brayden McCormack, a healthy 9 year old went swimming in his backyard lake to cool off from the hot Florida sun. All was normal until a few days later when he came very sick. Brayden was eventually diagnosed with the Naegleria Fowleri amoeba. Brayden passed away due to this amoeba July 15th 2020.

Dozens of students at our school swim in lakes so we wanted to educate them on how to swim safely. This amoeba is 98% fatal however it is 100% preventable. It can only enter through the nose so the best way to completely avoid it is by keeping your nose above water. Another way to protect yourself is by wearing nose plugs. Steinbrenner FFA is offering free nose plugs to any of our students and their families who would like them.

The key to surviving this amoeba is to catch it early so it can be properly treated. The Kyle Cares Amoeba Awareness Foundation is working towards developing a rapid test for this amoeba so that it can be quickly diagnosed. To support them Steinbrenner FFA has Amoeba Awareness and #BraydenStrong bracelets for sale for just 1$. 100% of the profits from our bracelet sales will go towards Kyle Cares. We are also expecting donations for this foundation!

If you are interested in free nose plugs, purchasing bracelets, donating to Kyle Cares, or learning more about this amoeba please feel free to contact us or visit kylecare.com for more info!