By Kate Wood
This summer, I, along with a surprising number of other Lovett students, engaged in something that many may find frightening: employment. Fortunately, my job still allowed me to embrace summer since I was sitting in the sun next to the pool, not in a lounge chair (well, I still did that at times), but in a lifeguard stand.
Back in March, this job opportunity came to me when recent Lovett alum Lucy David suggested that I should work with her at the Brookwood Hills pool. It sounded like a fun job that I could enjoy while also getting paid, so why not?
One of my good friends, Evvie Bresnahan, a junior, was also a lifeguard this summer for the first time, and we went through the certification process together in May. After countless hours of an online course, in-person training, and a rescue test, we were finally able to work.
“The certification process was terrible,” Evvie recalled. “I don’t recommend it to anybody. It took years.”
However, she had plenty of positive things to say about the job once she got through the grueling certification. “My favorite part of working was free drinks from the cafe,” she said. I can confirm that it was very refreshing to get a slushy in the midst of a hot summer shift.
Also pulling shifts at the pool? Senior William Holmes, who has worked as a lifeguard at Brookwood Hills since the summer after his freshman year. He loves being outside. It’s almost meditative for him. “When I go up on the stand, I kind of like to sit there and just clear my mind,” he said.
Although there were good things about the job, there were also struggles. Evvie and William both mentioned how the shifts could feel long and that certain supervisors were a bit difficult to work with.
Other challenges were a bit more unexpected. William told me about a terrifying encounter he had at the end of one of his shifts. “I was doing trash one night and when I went to open up one of the big trash cans… a squirrel jumped out at me,” he said. If he wasn’t right there in front of me during the interview, I might have wondered if he survived the encounter. Evvie had to deal with an even more gory experience. She had to “clean up blood one time when a kid had a bloody nose.”
Outside of lifeguarding, Evvie and William had some exciting things going on. Evvie went to Croatia. While there, she enjoyed shopping and swimming in the ocean, where she used her lifeguard skills to stay alive.
When William wasn’t lifeguarding or pursuing his other job as a swim coach for the Brookwood Hills summer swim team, he was spending the money that he earned. “I bought an old muscle car, and I’ve been wanting to get it for three and a half years,” he said, “so that was a big accomplishment and a goal that I was able to reach that I was proud of.”
I asked them if they would be returning to Brookwood Hills again next summer. “If they hire me again, I would love to work there because it was fun, paid well, and I met lots of great people,” Evvie said. William, on the other hand, is going to move on to pursue other interests next summer. He wants to go sailing with his uncle and perhaps go on a trip with his friends later in the summer.
Since school has begun, both Evvie and William have settled into their classes, are setting goals for this year, and are getting excited about the months to come.
Work-wise, William is wrapping up his last few shifts at Brookwood Hills while Evvie is no longer working there, but instead, cleaning whiteboards for an office building and babysitting (where she hopefully doesn’t have to use her CPR certification).
Finally, when I asked Evvie what she is excited about for this year, she said, “I am looking forward to lacrosse.” Meanwhile, William is already starting to get senioritis. But he’s torn. “I am excited to graduate,” he said, “but I’ve really enjoyed senior year so far, so maybe I won’t want to get out of here so quickly.”
