Field Trip Horror – Teacher and Student DEAD!

A row of yellow school buses parked in front of a school building under a cloudy sky — Photo: Anne Kitzman / Shutterstock

A fifth-grade teacher and her 10-year-old student drowned together during a routine outdoor education trip at Lake Macbride, and their small Iowa City school is now grieving two people at once.

Story Snapshot

Hannah Jorgensen, 24, a Borlaug Elementary fifth-grade teacher, and Ahmed Osman, 10, her student, died during a School of the Wild field trip on September 22.
The incident happened at the Macbride Nature Recreation Area near the Coralville Reservoir spillway, prompting a large emergency response.
The Iowa City Community School District confirmed both deaths and called the loss one felt “throughout Borlaug and across our district.”
The University of Iowa suspended its School of the Wild program “until we learn more” while investigators review what happened.

What Happened At Lake Macbride

The tragedy unfolded during a Borlaug Elementary fifth-grade trip to the Macbride Nature Recreation Area, part of the University of Iowa’s School of the Wild outdoor education program. Reports from that day described a large emergency response near Lake Macbride and the Coralville Reservoir spillway as crews searched the water.

Early information was incomplete. Initial reports said one adult had died and a child was still missing, a sequence later confirmed by multiple outlets as search crews worked through the area. That gap between the first reports and the final identification meant families and neighbors spent hours not knowing the full scope of what had happened.

Victims Identified As Search Concludes

Within roughly a day, the missing student’s body was recovered and both victims were formally identified. The district named them as Hannah Jorgensen, a 24-year-old fifth-grade teacher at Borlaug Elementary, and Ahmed Osman, her 10-year-old student. Officials have not released details on how the two entered the water, and that part of the timeline remains under investigation.

The Iowa City Community School District responded quickly with a public statement acknowledging the loss. “We are heartbroken by the tragic accident that occurred today during a Borlaug Elementary fifth-grade School of the Wild field trip at the Macbride Nature Recreation Area,” the district said, adding that thoughts were with “the family, friends, and loved ones of those affected by this tragedy”.

District Frames Loss As Shared By Whole School

Once identities were confirmed, the district’s language shifted from general condolence to a direct statement about who was lost. “Hannah and Ahmed were deeply valued members of our school district community, and their loss is being felt throughout Borlaug and across our district,” the district said. That framing treats the deaths not as an isolated outside incident, but as a direct wound to the school itself.

Support resources were made available almost immediately. The district said counselors and support staff would be present at Borlaug Elementary, with continued support offered “as needed”. Crisis-response experts note that this kind of rapid, factual, support-first communication is the standard first step schools take after a sudden death in the student body, well before longer investigations run their course.

University Pauses The Outdoor Program Involved

The University of Iowa, which runs the School of the Wild program used by Borlaug Elementary, announced it was pausing the program entirely following the deaths. The university said it suspended programming “until we learn more,” a decision made while the circumstances of the accident are still being reviewed.

A 24-year-old Iowa teacher and her 10-year-old student died during a fifth-grade field trip at Lake MacBride State Park near the Coralville Reservoir spillway.

Hannah Jorgensen, a fifth-grade teacher at Borlaug Elementary in Iowa City, was recovered from the water and pronounced… pic.twitter.com/iaHUDoEnOv

— Fox News US (@FoxUSNews) September 24, 2026

That pause does not amount to a finding of fault. It reflects a common institutional response when a serious incident occurs inside an educational program: stop activity, gather facts, then decide whether and how the program resumes. Parents and school staff are left waiting on that process alongside investigators.

Why Field Trip Deaths Draw Deep Scrutiny

Drownings during school field trips are rare, but when they happen, attention almost always moves from grief toward questions of supervision. Legal guidance on school field trips notes that published liability cases involving field trip injuries remain uncommon nationally, which suggests most outings end safely every year. Still, the few cases that do arise tend to involve serious injury or death, and they routinely raise hard questions about staffing levels and site safety.

For a district and a university program now facing outside review, the coming weeks will likely focus on exactly those questions: how many adults supervised the group, what safety measures were in place near the water, and whether warnings or barriers existed at the spillway. None of that changes what the Borlaug community has already lost. A teacher and a student went out on a class trip and did not come home.