Marianne Preker

Class of:  2001

Marianne left her counseling career in 1987 to open Underwater Safaris Scuba Center in Chicago. A PADI master instructor and Handicapped Scuba Association course director, she dreamed of teaching people with disabilities to scuba dive. In 1991, Marianne created Project TIDE which has trained hundreds of teens with disabilities to dive in Chicago and the Caribbean. Currently a foundation of Underwater Safaris supports TIDE, scuba programs for inner city teens, and educational programs in Roatan and Papua New Guinea.