The week of June 27–July 1, Wrightsville Beach Ocean Rescue members imparted some of their lifesaving knowledge to 30 admiring young children during the second annual junior lifeguard program.
In place of typical summer camp activities like arts and crafts, the junior lifeguard campers learned how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, swim through turbulent ocean waters and rescue and treat victims.
The week’s curriculum alternated physical activities like swimming and paddling with lessons like identifying rip currents and bandaging arm lacerations. Each day’s physical activities built on the previous day’s, culminating in a swim around Crystal Pier on Thursday.
At the beginning of the week, some of the kids and their parents were worried about that swim, camp organizer Lindsey Gerkens said. But, she said, the first thing the children said after completing the swim was “Can we do that again?”
“My favorite part is watching their confidence grow throughout the week,” said Gerkens, herself a former junior lifeguard camper.
She witnessed the campers grow in both confidence and ability throughout the week, but she noticed many of them started the week fairly confident, having done the camp last year. And those campers’ comfort level transferred to the less experienced campers, Gerkens said.
“They fed off the energy of the kids who had been through the program before, so it was fun to watch the program grow in that way,” she said.
Many of the campers will continue to progress as they take part in the second junior lifeguard session July 25–29. Camp organizers added the second session this year because of the program’s popularity, and many children and their parents opted to do both sessions.
“The kids love it,” Gerkens said. “They just can’t get enough.”
Melissa Ellison said her daughter Bella had been looking forward to the camp all year. A number of the children—many of them former or current classmates at Wrightsville Beach School—even bought matching lifeguard bathing suits to wear.
It’s hard work, Ellison noted, saying, “After this, most of the kids will probably go home and take a nap.”
But it’s also rewarding, she said, because “they get to do all the things the lifeguards do, just on a smaller scale.”
She stressed the value of children learning ocean safety skills, especially those whose families live on the island or visit frequently. Having those skills also allows the children more independence, Ellison said. As rising sixth graders, Bella and her friends are nearing the age when they might go to the beach without parents.
She’s also grateful for the bonds the camp creates between the children and Wrightsville Beach’s lifeguards. Now that Bella knows most of the guards, Ellison said, her daughter likes to check in with them when she visits the beach to let them know where she’s sitting.
Daphne Rivenbark noticed her son Jace doing something similar after attending the camp last year. On a family walk down the beach strand, her son stopped at every lifeguard stand to say hi to each guard on duty.
The children view the lifeguards as role models, she said, adding, “That’s what I love about this town, is these men and women are so amazing with the kids.”
The admiration the children have for the guards made the final day of camp especially exciting, when each camper shadowed a guard for a few hours in the lifeguard stand.
Aside from any emergency rescues, the children did exactly what the guards did, which Ellison and Rivenbark agreed was an inspiring experience for the campers.
“The kids all want to become lifeguards,” Ellison said.
