Thanks to a recent American Red Cross announcement, the city of Pembroke Pines has something to make a splash about.

The Red Cross ranked Pines among its list of top-scoring aquatics programs throughout Broward and Miami-Dade counties for reaching out and teaching roughly 5,000 residents how to swim in 2008.

The city received a new aquatics banner for its efforts in schooling amateur swimmers under its municipally-run “Learn-to-Swim” service, a program design to reduce swim-related fatalities among youngsters in public pools, home spas, lakes and the ocean.

Miramar and Cooper City also picked up accolades for nearly 25,000 and 600 "Learn to Swim" participants, respectively.

The banner encourages parents and guardians to enroll their children in more Pines Learn to Swim classes, which also trains parents how to respond to or prevent a drowning emergency.

For more information about Pembroke Pines’ Learn to Swim program, call 954-538-3646, or visit www.ppines.com.