In an effort to boost the number of trained and available lifeguards at pools throughout the city, D.C. is now offering free lifeguard training to local teenagers.
The first week of September brings the start of the 11-week Junior Lifeguard Academy course, where participants will learn water safety, CPR and first aid, as well as developmental skills like resume building and customer service.
The DC Department of Parks and Recreation website says the academy is for D.C. residents aged 12 through 19 who have selected preexisting swimming skills: the ability to do a 100-yard swim using front crawl or breast-stroke; a 10-pound diving brick retrieval from maximum depth; and one-minute tread without hands.
All participants are required to complete an assessment test.
The courses will be held at Barry Farm Aquatic Center in Southeast, Turkey Thicket Aquatic Center in Northeast and the Deanwood Aquatic Center in Northeast.
“We want to increase water safety and awareness,” Thennie Freeman, interim director of DC Department of Parks and Recreation told WTOP. “We can encourage young people to put the phones down because you can’t have them in the water and learn to swim, learn to save a life, get conditioning, and be able to do something fun.”
To be hired as a certified lifeguard, teens will have to go through additional training and be at least 16 years old.
