School’s about to let out for the summer, and the first place most imagine spending part of vacation is at the beach, on the river or even a pool. Being on and in the water is simply part of summer.

Every year, there’s always a report of someone drowning, and usually, the assumption is that the victims were simply not strong swimmers. That’s not necessarily the case. Any strong swimmer can get caught in an ocean rip current and not know how to get out of it by swimming parallel to the shore. Even experienced swimmers can panic in that moment and forget lifesaving measures.

It happened last year to a top Major League Baseball prospect, a young man named Donny Everett, a pitcher for Vanderbilt University who had turned down a substantial MLB contract right out of high school in order to pitch on the college level first. He was in the prime of his life. An autopsy revealed there was no alcohol or drugs in his system when he drowned in the placid waters of a lake, with his teammates nearby. By the time they realized Everett was in trouble, it was too late, and a young athlete with a very bright future died.

Unfortunately, that’s often how drowning happens.

What most people don’t realize is that in 10 percent of all drownings, there are people close to the drowning victim that do nothing. It’s not because they don’t notice the person who is drowning. Rather, it’s because they don’t recognize that the person in view is drowning.

Drowning does not look like what’s portrayed in the movies: someone screaming “Help!” at full volume and waving arms frantically to get the attention of someone who can save them.

Drowning is actually a silent affair — no splashing, waving of arms or calls for help. This is because those who are actively drowning are doing everything they can simply to take their next breath. Their mouths rise above and sink below the surface of the water repeatedly as they try to breathe. They cannot yell; they simply don’t have the breath to do so. They cannot wave their arms because their focus is getting their mouths above water, so they extend their arms out to the sides, pushing down on the water so they can rise above the surface. And drowning victims are incapable of stopping that movement in order to wave for help.

The act of drowning does not take very long at all. Once the instinctive response kicks in, most people struggle for less than a minute before submersion. It can happen in plain view.

No doubt, sometimes people hang out in the water, treading water to stay in place. A person treading water looks very similar to one drowning, but there is one failsafe way to figure out which is the case — ask. A person treading water will answer if one asks if they’re OK. A person drowning cannot answer at all.

This summer, be vigilant in the ocean, in the river, in a pool. Keep an eye on those swimming and if there is any question about whether a swimmer is in distress, just ask.