Horizons Atlanta trains teens, aims to address lifeguard shortage

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — Horizons Atlanta is hosting a summer program in metro Atlanta to combat the national shortage of lifeguards by training teenagers for the role.

Lifeguards play a vital role in summer safety, but in recent years there has been a nationwide problem finding enough staff for the job.

Isla Edwards is one of the Horizons Atlanta teens who has completed lifeguard training. She’s now spending the summer as the program’s custodian, the same program that taught her to swim years ago.

“One of the main things we learned here was how to swim,” Edwards said. “So being a lifeguard and helping other kids learn to swim has brought me full circle.”

The six-week summer program supports students from underserved communities. The nonprofit organization not only focuses on math and literacy, but also provides essential swim lessons to participating children, many of whom begin Horizons in kindergarten and continue through high school. There are milestones each year, as students progress through the basics. One of the highlights is the third-grade swim competition, which 11Alive has featured in 2023, while lifeguard training represents the top of the ladder, according to site manager Kristin Jackson.

“I feel like lifeguard certification is the pinnacle,” Jackson said. “At this point, we are so expert at swimming that we can save other people in the water.”

Such training began as a way to engage older teens as they mastered skills in the water, Jackson said, but training is also the basis for viable employment.

“It just builds on itself,” Horizons Atlanta Executive Director Meredith Johnson said. “We’re able to give them the skills they need to get a job, and for some of them, we’re giving them their first job. It’s amazing to feel like we’re a part of that success story.”

This success has been even more crucial in recent years amid a national shortage of lifeguards, which “has worsened in recent years,” notes the American Lifeguard Association (ALA) on its website. An obstacle, the ALA says, may also be the challenges of the certification process itself, which can require resources of time and money. But Horizons Atlanta is already free to students, many of whom attend Title I schools, and there is also no charge for students who participate in lifeguard training and certification.

Edwards said the free training isn’t the only benefit. She loves the hours and giving back to her community and said employers also reach out and notice the role on her resume.

“It teaches you a lot of skills,” Edwards said. “It teaches you to be vigilant. It teaches you to be responsible to yourself and to others. It teaches you leadership…I feel like this job has given me a lot of things that I don’t I didn’t have before and that I can take with me into my work.” regular and professional life.”

To learn more or apply to Horizons Atlanta, click here.