Beloved high school teacher, 21, drowns with younger brother in Lake Michigan

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU/Gray News) - A high school teacher and her brother have died in what is being described as a tragic drowning accident in Lake Michigan.

Hannah Zweig, 21, was a life skills teacher at Adams High School in South Bend. She was with her 18-year-old brother, Yosef, at the lake when they lost their lives.

No further information was immediately made regarding the brother and sister’s deaths.

Adams High School Principal Jim Seitz said Zweig was beloved at the school and had a clear, compassionate vision for her career. She had just started teaching last year.

“I actually received an email from her about two years ago, explaining that she was finishing up her degree and she would be interested in a life skills teaching position at Adams High School,” Seitz said. “And you could see from the tone of her email the compassion that she had for young people, especially young people with special needs.”

That compassion was said to have quickly translated into deep, meaningful connections with both her students and their families.

“As a life skills teacher, you have a responsibility to literally work with your students from the moment that they get off of the bus in the morning to the moment that they get back on the bus in the afternoon,” Seitz said. “Hannah communicated with her parents of her students more, quite frankly, than any teachers that we have.”

The 21-year-old’s exceptional work did not go unnoticed. The South Bend Community School Corporation awarded Zweig “Rookie Teacher of the Year.”

Seitz added that Zweig was always looking for ways to lift those around her, whether organizing school-wide initiatives or highlighting the work of her colleagues.

“She was highly instrumental in working to get a story out about one of our paraprofessionals in the life skills room, Mr. Rich... He proposed to his wife to go to prom for the first time. It was never about her. It was always about wanting to help others.”

Zweig previously shared that one of the reasons she loved her job was because of her brother Yosef. People who knew her said it’s only right they’re both still together.