Saint John students earn high school credit for lifeguarding courses

Students in Saint John, N.B., now have an opportunity to earn high school credit on lifeguarding courses.

The Canada Games Aquatic Centre is working with Simonds High School to offer classes based on a national curriculum from the Lifesaving Society.

“I took this course to help people,” says Ashlyn Godfrey, who is one of about 25 students at Simonds High School who are being taught courses including: Bronze Medallion, Bronze Cross, and Emergency First Aid. The three courses are prerequisites for going on to become a nationally certified lifeguard or swim instructor.

“I took this course because it has been a goal of mine to have a lifeguarding summer job, for a long time,” says Simonds High student Isabella Reid.

The program at Simonds is being taught by teachers who were trained at the Canada Games Aquatic Centre.

“We realized we had some teachers that were qualified and that had previous lifeguarding experience, so we built upon that,” says vice-principal Jim Palmer. “After we invested some money into restoring the pool we wanted to provide our students with a new opportunity to learn.”

Ben Tremblay, aquatics director at the Canada Games Aquatic Centre, says the in-school program will give students different skills “that can ultimately transfer into a job, whether it’s (at the Aquatic Centre), any other pool, the beaches.”

A similar program is also being developed at Saint John High, which also has a pool within its building.

Tremblay says the goal is to introduce courses at schools regardless of whether there’s a pool in the building, and eventually have trained high school students mentor elementary students “to increase water safety across the board.”

A widespread shortage of certified lifeguards across the country has led to a reduction of facility hours, or outright closures, around the region. 

Lifesaving Society courses are being offered at pools across the region this winter, in hopes of attracting new lifeguard candidates this summer.

Grégoire Cormier, the New Brunswick Lifesaving Society’s training program manager, says many facilities are still trying to recover from when workers left due to pandemic closures.

“Facilities are really starting their recruitment from scratch,” says Cormier, mentioning the over 100 combined hours needed to complete multiple lifesaving courses. “Now would be the best time to get your lifeguard training and courses done.”

For more New Brunswick news visit our dedicated provincial page.