Courtesy of Faith Dietz ’24

Faith Dietz ’24 pulls a lane rope across the El Salido Pool in preparation for the pool’s patrons. The lifeguards do many such tasks as a part of their daily duties.

Just a five-minute drive from Westwood, the El Salido pool, a lively cornerstone of the neighborhood, offers multiple students a part-time job serving as lifeguards. Many students applied due to its significance to their community.

“My neighborhood pool didn’t have enough lifeguards, [and because] they were understaffed, it had to be closed,” Faith Dietz ‘24 said. “That made my siblings upset. They enjoyed going to the summer camp right next to it that would make regular trips to the pool so [the kids] could swim. Finally I was like ‘you know what I’ll do it’, [and] I basically applied for the kids.”

The El Salido pool has provided many former high schoolers with lifeguarding positions, prompting their friends and family to apply there as well. 

“My brother used to work there, so that is the main reason I applied there for my first job,” Hallie Lott ‘25 said. 

For other students, two big factors of the lifeguard position led them to apply — opportunity for exposure to the community and alignment with their personal interests.

“It was always a dream of mine to become a lifeguard at some point,” Ted Bullot ‘25 said. “I love being around the water and I love being around kids. It’s just a great experience overall.” 

Even after being hired, students had to go through a thorough training period. 

“When you initially get hired you have to do a test to see if you are physically strong enough to be a lifeguard. It involves swimming, treading water and picking up a brick from the bottom of the pool. For the most part this is pretty easy,” Allison Petty ’24 said. “After you finish [some] online modules, you go in and learn everything you need to know about CPR and all the techniques for rescues. During work, we have various types of training every day [as well]. I’ve learned a lot about signs and symptoms for heart attacks and other medical conditions just in case something were to go wrong.”

Once their training is complete, employees may begin working as a lifeguard. 

“We’ll have the rotations on a board of who goes up when, with every 15 minutes the next person rotating the other person down,” Dietz said. “During the summer you are typically up for an hour and 15, down for an hour and 15, and in your offtime you can do whatever [you want], swim, do homework, listen to music, hang out in the guardroom. Then after closing we do our closing duties which are cleaning the bathroom and cleaning the deck.”

Students such as Dietz have been promoted to higher roles, allowing them to learn the ins and outs of leadership in a professional environment. 

Although the pool’s patrons have been scarce the past few months, affecting the employees’ hours, it’s predicted to become very busy as summer approaches. 

“The hours are different for the winter and the summer,” Petty said. “In the winter we are closed on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and we close in the middle of the day. During the winter it’s [also] mainly older people doing laps, but in the summer we have our other pool open due to the amount of kids [and] summer camps that will come visit.”

Students have shown considerable enthusiasm about working at the pool, and describe great benefits beyond the paycheck. 

“I love my job. I love being able to tan and overall just the friends that I’ve made by working there,” Petty said.