Recently Graduated Pool Staff Enjoy Summer Prior to College

With highs in and nearing the triple digits these past few weeks, the pool continues to be a popular setting. Co-manager Ava Dinger's predictions for the summer traffic had been on-target. Her fellow manager, Nathan Law, added that they've been increasing hourly break periods, in which adults are permitted to swim peacefully, from 10 minutes to 15 minutes during days exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit. 
Law explained, "I was a lifeguard in 2019, and from 2020 to now I have been managing. So overall I have been managing for three years." While the two managers have been staff-members at the pool for four summers, rounding out the years in between their high school careers, two other recently graduated lifeguards have also been a part of the team. 
Having worked at the Wall pool for two years, Keaunna Poor Bear noted, "My love for working with children sparked my interest in becoming a lifeguard." Aiden Peterson also answered, "I wanted to become closer to the community of Wall before I go away to learn new things. As my first year at the pool, it feels like I have wrapped up my time spent with all these great people respectfully while benefiting the community itself." 
Poor Bear and Peterson will both be attending South Dakota State University, respectively intending to earn a degree in elementary education and become a Certified Flight Instructor. Law will also be heading East River to continue his education and will be a short distance away at Dakota State University. He will be working towards a cyber security degree. Last, but certainly not least, Dinger plans to attend Black Hills State University this fall and major in exercise science. 
Although each newly graduated staff member will be heading in a different direction career-wise, it is safe to say that the skills and knowledge they've acquired during their time as lifeguards will continue to benefit them all throughout the years, no matter the field they're going into. Poor Bear's goal to teach young children will have been supplied in obvious ways by the job, as she had been drawn to the position by the prospect of working with the pool's main demographic. In addition to the ability to work with children, lifeguarding requires a degree of fitness, which will benefit Dinger in a similarly evident fashion. 
As Dinger had mentioned previously, Law's managerial duties typically relate largely to pool maintenance. Maintenance work, in itself, requires a worker to be equipped with proficient knowledge of how the system at hand works, including being able to recognize and handle any problems that may arise. To enter the cyber security field, one must have both hard and soft skills similar to those of a pool maintenance manager. 
Peterson's desire to take to the sky will also have been supplemented by a variety of hard and soft skills, including but not limited to weather monitoring, calm and clear communication (especially when faced with unfavorable situations), the strong ability to listen and respond effectively, and a sense of alertness and responsibility. While likely not directly working with children, he explained, "I found blowing bubbles with the preschool class [to be] my favorite." He added, "It is to teach the children not to be afraid of putting their face in the water." 
On the same topic, Poor Bear explained fondly, "My favorite moments are when children learn to do things they thought they couldn't." These four lifeguards were all children once, splashing around in the pool and enjoying childhood just as their charges do today. Each of them has faced their share of obstacles and challenges, and they've all achieved goals they perceived to be unattainable. Perhaps, at one point in time, graduating high school and moving on to continue their education had seemed like a scary, faraway prospect, but they've done it. No matter whether they reach their current dream to earn undergraduate degrees and certificates and find contentment or aspire to earn further degrees like fellow lifeguard Mercede Hess, they will still be valued and incredibly important members of the Wall Community. Stay tuned to learn more about the up-and-coming junior and senior team members!