Final Performance Review

I believe that in should earn a 94% percent in college writing one. I feel that I did really well and participated in class, but no matter how hard someone tries in class, it is very very rare that they give 100% of their efforts, otherwise they would have a 100% in the class.
I am basing my grade on not only my actual grade in the course (94.2%), but the 6 other topics in the review sheet.

1. I feel that out of all 6 topics, knowledge and learning was my lowest. I was able to do everything except once in a while, when reading Rewriting for homework, I wouldn't comprehend what I read.
2. In preparation and in-class performance - I only did not come to class prepared with my Rewriting book one day, and have always tried to participate and answer at least 1 of your questions a day to show that I am actually paying attention, but at the same time do not seem like a teachers pet to the rest of the class. 
3. In the topic of attendance and participation - I have showed up to class every single day including the first (even though I only came in the last 5 minutes), and participated (part of prep and class performance review)
4.  In the topic of teamwork and interpersonal skills-   I have always would stay quiet in class and listen, and even encourage Ray and Adam to quiet down here and there. I would always work with others efficiently and I have gave you my full respect, just as you have to me.
5. In the topic of problem solving and decision making - I was able to work independently, but would often seek help from others in class to make sure I was doing the assignments correctly (a small fear of mine is to show up and have done the assignment completely wrong and be yelled at) so I always would double check. I also built upon others ideas and helped them with what they should be doing for homework and papers for example, how to stay on topic and what the papers formatting should look like.
6.  In the topic of Lewis University Mission - I feel as if I did nothing to disrespect anyone in our College writing 1 community and that I have truly showed improvement in the class from the first paper I sent in to the last.

With all of these ideas in mind, I feel as if I have achieved an A in the class, and would like to thank you for encouraging me to come visit you during office hours as it has really helped me with my papers, even though it only took 10 minutes. Have a good rest of the year!

Integrating Lifeguarding Quotes

As time goes on, more and more community's are slowly starting to realize how important their lifeguards actually are to the community. Just over the summer of 2014 at Centennial Park Aquatic Center, there has been over 300 recorded saves (Seidelmann, Head Pool Manager). That being said, more and more communities (including The Village Of Orland Park) are giving their lifeguards larger raises. In fact, in 2013, Centennial had increased their lifeguards' pay raise from 10 cents to 50 cent a year as a thank you to the guards for the thousands of lives that have been saved and gone without notice. Now not only do lifeguards feel more appreciated by the village, but a 4th year returning lifeguard will now be making $10.50 and not $8.90 which is more of an incentive to stay with the village or not be forced to find a higher paying job and be forced to leave Centennial.

A short interview with Head Pool Manager of Cenntenial Park Aquatic Center- WIlliam Seidelmann

•       What are some other reasons you have discovered why our lifeguards chose being lifeguards?
Other than money, the sense of community amongst their peers and outdoor environment tend to be reasons people return as lifeguards year after year. Responsibility and the feeling of making a difference is the reason parents have told me they like their children to work for us.
•       What are other types of certifications in the life saving world can one get if they wish to pursue the first responder field?
EMT, Paramedic, and Firefighter are some certs people have pursued.
•       Are there any benefits to having a CPR/AR/AED certification even when your not a lifeguard?
Greatest benefit is being prepared for emergency situations. Understanding what questions to ask and how to respond in order to help someone get to the professionals is a great take away. A lot of people like having babysitters that are certified too; when talking in the younger adult population that are normally lifeguard certified.
•       How has being a lifeguard as a teen has affected some of the older generation lifeguards (if you still have contact with any?)
Many of the guards I started with have pursued carries in medicine or in communication fields. Since working in a large- diverse, sometimes stressful environment become natural, retired guards tend to find their way to these positions.
•       What are some Lifeguard related jobs that one can pursue for a full time job?
Recreation administration, aquatics supervisors at the collegiate and high school levels, risk management consultants (auditors for Eliis, Starguard or Red Cross)
•       What are some salaries of lifeguards at other facilities?
Anywhere from minimum wage to 10ish dollars an hour. Management at facilities tends to range from 10,000 a summer to 40,000 a year (base salary). At Orland I tend to make about 25,000 for the season- this includes training.
•       Approximately how many lives have been saved from lifeguards this year at the pool?
Average of 300 Rescues a year
•       How many lives have been saved from off duty lifeguards that you know of?
Last year alone I was told of 5 guards that performed first aid outside of the facility. Otherwise I do not have a concrete number but a lot of first aids, seizures, and diabetic related illnesses are treated by guards.

*A special thanks to Will for participating in the interview and responding quicker then a lifeguard that spots a distressed swimmer.

A Magnificent short Digital Lifeguarding story!

Digital Story on Lifeguarding. Perf. Bridget Collita and Brett Stozek. Youtube. Pamela Dettman, 10 Aug.      2013. Web. 5 Nov. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_hVEVrM_Xw>.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_hVEVrM_Xw

I have found a magnificent short digital story about life guarding that has tons of wonderful statistics and facts of lifeguards, what a lifeguard is portrayed as and what they actually do, and even some background of life guarding. The author also mentions how being a lifeguard has changed her in a positive way. What used to be a minimum wage summer job turned into a fun summer job which would teach her not only safety and performance, but teamwork, professionalism, leadership and time management. I would like to also add that it helps you think and make quick decisions when needed, as when your lifeguarding, seconds could be the difference between life and death. Whether you are looking into becoming a lifeguard next summer or just want to do some CPR classes, this video is DEFINITELY WORTH THE WATCH!

Summary: "Development and future trends in lifeguarding"

Tyson, Kim. "Developments and Future Trends In Lifeguarding."Journal of Physical Education,      

       Recreation & Dance. 61.5 (1990): 40. Web.

Lifeguards have started to take on a whole new image then what was portrayed of them in the past. With more and more water facility being build every year, more and more lifeguards have been trained to watch them. What was once a easy seasonal job now requires highly specialized skills. As time goes on,many facilities are slowly starting to realize that their lifeguards are basically the first responders. Every year, more and more facilities are changing their techniques to better fit the position. It has come to a point where lifeguards have basically become EMTS. Basic lifeguards are required to know first aid, CPR, AR, and even must trained to use a automated external defibrillator. As time goes on, lifeguards are stepping up there game as more and more lives are being saved each year due to the quick reaction and knowledge lifeguards must now know.

Lifeguarding Sources

http://search.proquest.com/docview/215770028?pq-origsite=summon

Tyson, Kim. "Developments and Future Trends In Lifeguarding."Journal of Physical Education,      

     Recreation & Dance. 61.5 (1990): 40. Web.

http://search.proquest.com/docview/215760016?pq-origsite=summon

"New requirements for lifeguards." Journal of Physical Education,Recreation & Dance. 74.5       (2003): 54. Web.

http://search.proquest.com/docview/763259096/abstract?accountid=12073

Schwebel, David C Jones, Heather N; Holder, Erika; Marciani, Francesca. "Lifeguards: A Forgotten         Aspect of Drowning Prevention."Journal of Injury and Violence Research 2.1 (2010): 1-3. Web.

We guard on. -Research paper questions

I have decided to do my research paper about my dream job of becoming a permanent lifeguard.  Although I am going to school for air traffic controlling, my heart will always reside besides the pool. After being taught at the age of 4 to swim by lifeguards and living the 'summoned life', I feel as if I have finally found my out what I was meant to do in this world but am grief stricken that I cannot fulfill my job due to it being a seasonal job and age being a factor, I cannot rescue lives forever :(. In order to hopefully fulfill my craving of guarding during the off season, I've decided to go even further in depth and finally figure out more about life guarding.  As a result, here are some questions I have came up with a few questions to help further the knowledge of not only myself, but also to the guards who may be reading and also have the same questions about guarding. Hopefully, this may also encourage my non-lifeguard readers to become lifeguards, or at least take CPR/AR/AED courses at their local Red Cross center.

• What are some other reasons lifeguards chose being a lifeguard?
• What are other types of certifications in the life saving world can one get?
• Benefits of having a CPR/AR/AED certification. 
• How being a lifeguard as a teen has affected the older generation.
• Where are some of the older generation lifeguards at in life now?
• Lifeguard related jobs that one can pursue for a full time job.
• The salaries of lifeguards at other facilities.
• How many lives have been saved from lifeguards a year at a pool or water park.
• How many lives have been saved from off duty lifeguards, or citizens with CPR/AR/AED training?

-Havard Gazette- What could possibly go wrong?

In the article by Alvin Powell, Powell interviews food specialist and Harvard Graduate, Walter Willet. Powell begins asking the interview by asking about Willet's family tree beginning with his grand father. Powell then asks about Willet's fathers background in hopes to see or figure out a pattern about how Willet got into being a food specialist. 
Walter's family coming from a farm, Walter was always into diet and health. He got his degree in Physics and from their his uncle got Walter even more interested in Physics. What Walter soon realized though was that he was more interested in being outside and less indoor, lab-type projects and experiments. So to solve his problem, Walter decided to have the best of both worlds and decided to go into food physics and nutrition.
From there on out, he has worked with others in conducting heath studies and came back with many interesting results. With his results, he publishes, he has managed to educate the public in one of his more famous studies about how a moderate diet could drop many heath concerns such as a heart and cardiovascular disease by nearly 90% and cancers by over 50%!
After conducting many other studies, Walter ended up going back to Harvard and becoming a professor.

The Summoned Life summary.

In the Summoned self by David Brooks, Brooks tells the readers about two separate ways to approach life.
The first way to approach life, is what he calls the Well-Planned life. In the well-planned life, one doe exactly as said. You would plan out your life an project or paper and as you go throughout life, you would find your "overall purpose" of your life. (Brooks) By the time your life is over, you can look back and see that your life turned out just as you planned it out to be due to how you organized it to be.
The second way of life is called the summoned life. In the summoned life, instead of planning out ones life, you would just go about your life, taking on the world, day by day waiting to see what life holds for you next. Brooks states that when living the summoned life you live in "an unknown landscape [yet], to be explored" (Brooks). Unlike the Well-Planned life, you do not know the meaning of life because you have not lived through it all to see it. Instead of planning your life the way you want to like one would in the well-planned life, one would now try to figure out his overall purpose and what his destiny is. There is no right or wrong answer in which life to live, but rather ones own opinion on how he wishes to see life; as both methods are "useful for a person trying to live a well-considered life" (Brooks).

21 month old infant taught to swim.

Many people are just scared to teach their children to swim because they are "too young".  I just wanted to share a cute video to show you that if a 21 month old infant is taught to swim, you're 3,4, and 5 year old children are also capable of doing it. I was taught when I was 4, and it has only helped me. It is an skill worth investing into your child that is never forgotten!

The STAAR Method.

What many people do not realize is that drowning is a very quick process. In the last video shown, (Which can also be seen here), the girl flips out of her tube and begins drowning at :30. By the time the lifeguard got to her, fifteen seconds had gone by. What you didn't probably know is that it only takes 30 seconds for one to go from a active victim (someone who is flailing and drowning) to an unconscious victim, at the bottom of the pool.(Wilson, "Water saftey expert: 'drowning doesn't just happen'") The first step to prevent deaths by drowning in general is by using the STAAR method and saving life's before they even go under and need to be given CPR.  The star method is quite simple. It goes as followed.

S- Scan - (scan the pool, within 20 seconds, your head should go from your left shoulder, to your right shoulder, scanning the top, middle, and bottom of the pool for struggling, or unconscious swimmers.)

T- Target - see the man "drowning"?

A- Assess - Assess the situation, is the man underwater moving his arms around or is he stiff?
 Many ask about how lifeguards know the difference between who is play drowning and really drowning. Lifeguards tend to look for facial expressions, such as what my guarding community calls the "OH SHIT" eyes. "OH SHIT" eyes are those who look as if they had just seen a ghost, they're eyes are open extremely wide, with their mouth slightly open sometimes as if they want to speak but can't get the words to come out.

A-Alert - ALWAYS SAY SOMETHING BEFORE JUMPING IN. Lifeguards have whistle in order to notify other lifeguards that they are going in and need to have their zones covered, notify their managers in order for them to call 911 ( depending on the whistle count and/or length being blown) and also notify patrons for them to move out of the way for when you are jumping/ swimming towards the victim. If at a pool party with no lifeguard, atleast scream to get others attention, they can then call 911 if necessary or come help also.

R-Rescue - Finally, rescue the victim, check to make sure they are okay if conscious, most likely they will still be in shock so calm them down by ensuring them that you are a here to help! Get them thinking again by asking them their name and age while swimming to the nearest edge. ( Gathering information can also help the paramedics by giving them a background of the situation)

What does drowning look like?

Whenever we think of someone drowning, we all think of the typical girl, screaming "help! I can't swim!" bobbing up and down, but what many do not realize is that drowning is the complete opposite. When drowning, many (both children and adults), go into a panic mode. During the panic mode, ones only goal is to stay above the water, no matter the cost. When drowning, many do not think about calling for help; the only goal is to gasp for air. I highly encourage my readers to watch the video below to see a real pool save to get an idea what a true drowning victim looks like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0KTqPloUiU

Did you see the girl flip out of her tube? Did you notice how she did not scream, but instead began flailing, trying to gasp for air? This, is what a true drowning looks like.