Photo caption: Zachary & Jake
Two Scottsdale high school students who are lifelong friends were just named Carnegie Medal winners for their heroic acts to save two other young people who were drowning in the surf.
Zachary Johnson Haugen, 18 and a senior at Chaparral High, and Jake Vageli Watson, his 17-year-old best friend who goes to Desert Mountain High, used their strong swimming skills to rescue two people who had been swept off the rocks by crashing waves on July 3, 2020.
Each year, the Carnegie Hero Fund awards its medal to citizens in the United States and Canada who courageously risk their lives to save or attempt to save the lives of others. Zachary and Jake are among 18 heroes announced on March 28.
The two were with friends on a summer vacation, checking out San Diego’s beautiful Sunset Cliffs.
“There was a high-surf advisory that day, and the swells were huge, and they were crashing into the cove,” Zachary recalls. “I’m standing on the edge of the cliff, and I look down and see the younger girl and the older one (struggling in the water). The younger girl is climbing on top of the older one. I was a lifeguard at the time, and I immediately recognized that that’s what a victim does when they’re drowning—they’re struggling to breathe, so they pull and push on everything to stay up (above the water).”
Zachary, who is a competitive swimmer and was one of the captains on this season’s swim team, jumped from the 20- to 25-foot cliff to help. He grabbed the girl and the three headed for the edge of the cove to try to get out. But a huge wave separated Zachary from the two, and propelled him against the rocks at the back of the cove.
Jake asked him if he should go in and jumped into the rough water, carrying the younger victim on his back the rest of the way to safety. The older girl had a head injury, and Jake helped keep her head above water until lifeguards arrived.
Zachary’s father, Brian Haugen, was very sick at the time but was incredibly proud (but really not that surprised) to hear of his son’s heroics. Sadly, he passed away a couple months later.
For Zachary, swimming has helped him deal with the great loss and always picks him up. “If I was ever having a bad day—if things just weren’t going my way or I had something on my mind—I always knew swim practice could cure that! I knew it would calm me down and bring my head back to a normal level of thought,” he shares. He will head to NAU this fall.
Escaped Flamingo Rediscovered 17 Years Later
A flamingo who flew away from a Kansas zoo nearly 17 years ago has been spotted approximately 600 miles away in Texas!
The flamingo, nicknamed Pink Floyd, arrived at the Sedgwick County Zoo from Africa with several dozen other wild flamingos in 2003. After living at the zoo for two years, two of the flamingos, tagged with the numbers 492 and 347, flew the coop! The zoo regularly clipped the flamingos’ feathers, but those two birds were overdue for their haircuts, which allowed them to take flight.
Pink Floyd, who was tagged with the number 492, flew away before zoo employees could test its blood to DETERMINE its sex. The zoo suspects Pink Floyd is a male. Keepers also believe the bird was between 3 and 5 years old when it escaped, so Pink Floyd is probably around 20 years old now. (The lifespan of flamingos ranges from 40–60 years.)
After its unplanned flight from the zoo, Pink Floyd wasn’t seen again for another three years—when it was spotted near Corpus Christi, Tex. Since then, Pink Floyd has been spotted in Texas and Louisiana, apparently living its best life with other wild flamingos. One of those flamingos was identified as a Caribbean flamingo who’s part of a flock from Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. It is unclear whether the birds are friends or perhaps something more. Either way, Pink Floyd has found a group of friends!
The zoo has accepted that Pink Floyd is destined to live out its days in the wild and has no plans to attempt to recapture the bright pink bird.
“It would only disturb wildlife where it’s been found and possibly could do more damage to the bird than just leaving him alone,” Christan Baumer, then a spokeswoman for the Sedgwick County Zoo, told the Associated Press in 2007.
