Becoming A Lifeguard

It is difficult to tell exactly when youth ends and adulthood begins. For many it is a prolonged process that ultimately culminates when heightened responsibility is accepted. The influence of a formal education is invaluable, yet for any individual to fully take on the challenges that this new stage of life offers, the initiative of voluntary personal change must also be engaged. For me, this change was signaled when I became a lifeguard.

I started lifeguarding because it was a natural transition from being a year round competitive swimmer since I was nine years old. I thought it would be a great full time summer job my sophomore year being that most people under the age of 16 find it challenging to get a part time job.

As a lifeguard, it is my personal responsibility and duty to preserve the peacefulness and protect the lives of every patron that enters the pool. This holds true especially at Baker Park (Edward P. Thomas Jr. Memorial Pool), for the pool often reached maximum capacity within an hour of opening, not including the daily two hundred children we get from day campps, such as Boys and Girls club and YMCA. While I guard the pool and perameter, it is crucial to exhibit all three qualities of Ready, Respectful, and Relentless, for anything can happen instantly which can interfere with the public safety of everyone, including myself.

‘‘The Lifeguard’’ by Mary Morris is a short story that focusses on change over time. A lifeguard accustomed to be the lord of all he surveys and with a big self-esteem, has a rude awakening when he proves deficient in the first aid needed to save a toddler, Becky, on the beach. The author demonstrates that we realise what we have only when a shattering event occurs. Trough characterization, foreshadowing and symbolism, Morris infers that once we realise what we have, it’s too late.

Everyone has an event in their life that helped changed them in some way or stood out to them in some type of way in their life. Rather if it is, something like a birth of a child, a death of a family member or even receiving a job. A significant event in my life and helped me grow as a person was when I decided to pack up and move to Houston, Texas. My move to Texas may have been short but in that short period it helped me to grow to be more independent and to provide for myself and much more. When I made the moved to Texas, I moved with family members that I knew but I was not close with it.

The most important event in my life was the Lewis and Clark expedition. I had been recruited by my friend, Meriwether Lewis, to embark on this expedition to explore the territory of the Louisiana

As I look back on my life, as short as it has been so far, there are a few key events that I recall that have shaped me most as an individual and secured my different places in life. I was born in Roosevelt, Utah. In this small town of just under 7,000 people I never truly was able to find out who I wanted to be. The community was heavily influenced by two main factors, the Mormon religion and a very conservative culture. If you were not a part of one or both of these influences you generally would run in an outer circle. I found it hard to figure out who I wanted to be as I battled with the cultural norm as well as my own internal struggles.

Sometimes an individual shuts down emotionally in an attempt deal with hardships in their own life, but may find better coping methods through unexpected friends. In Barbara Scott's Story, “Lifeguard” the character struggles to deal with hardships in his life in a variety of ways. Eventually he is able to open up and find healing from his bottled up emotions though a young boy who is going through his own tragedy. One way the main character Chris deals with his hardships in life by shutting people out.

I would have to say that the most significant event in my life that has and will affect my

My life events are something that impacted my life a lot. The most impactful is the birth of my little brother. Before he was born I had 3 sisters and that was it. Now I have 3 sisters and a red headed little brother. His birthday is February 15, 2015 and he is know 19 months old and this month was his first time on an airplane.

When I was 15 years old I never thought that my first job would have such an impact on my life. Going into it, I had the mindset that I had to just show up and put in my time so I can get paid and earn some money. As it turned out my first high school job was so much more than that.

I am a senior/potential first year grad student. I spend a lot of time lifeguarding at the Campus Recreation Center and the YMCA. My hometown is in Sterling, Illinois, where there is a lot of banks, bars, churches and parking lots. Growing up, I lived with my mother, father and older brother that graduated from Western Illinois University. I currently attend The Crossing church in Macomb, Illinois, where I was a village leader for our college ministry. Early mornings are the worst thing in the world in my mind, but I want to change that by starting to exercise before my classes. An interesting fact about me is that I can't run straight on a treadmill. I am unaware of the reason why I can’t do it I just blame the accident I had as young child

Over the summer, I worked as a lifeguard for a local public pool. Everyday, I saw a lot questionable activity going on that I had to correct: basic rules like running, fighting, horse-playing. However, a situation occurred that I never would have expected;: I was asked to confront a breastfeeding mother about the appropriateness of tending to her child’s needs in public.

The Event that has impacted me the most happened in late 2014,i was 15 at the time for me it was one of the most memorable events that has happened to me. I was in a Longboarding accident that caused me to go into a two week coma. It happened when i was still living in Oklahoma. After this happened, i’ve learned not to be so careless and i should be more aware of what my surroundings are. I remember that my friends and i were walking around a neighborhood looking for hills to ride down on,we usually did this for about an hour or so. It really was the perfect weather to go Longboarding it was a cool November winter day about 29 degrees. We were still walking until we found this hill in the neighborhood at the time i remember not being so big.

Have any of you ever wanted to have a superpower? Either the ability to fly, read people’s minds, or even to be invisible? Well I know of a superpower that you can learn right now; how to save a life. Saving lives is the best superpower out there and it is very practical, especially when dealing with water. Did you know that drowning is one of the top three leading causes of death among children? It is sad because it is one hundred percent preventable. Throughout my time as a lifeguard, the pool I work at has saved over two-hundred lives. By listening to this speech on how to be a lifeguard, you too can have a superpower that saves.