Submitted by Patti Brisley, TERC Youth Service Coordinator
As we may have seen in the news, lifeguarding is in high demand right now. In fact, the shortage has caused many pools to remain closed for the summer.
Fortunately, in a combined effort between TERC, Human Resources, the Allegany Community Center, the Cattaraugus Community Center, Highbanks, the Saylor, TERC has offered two lifeguard classes this past month.
The first one was held at the ACC on June 5th & 6th with 9 in-school youth becoming certified and filling the vacant positions. There was still a demand to fill the positions within the Nation, so another class of 12 in-school youth was held at the ACC on July 7th, 13th & 15th.
Each course required an online portion as a pre-requisite to the in-person training along with a written test, and allowed each participant to receive their First Aid & CPR and Lifeguard Certification. When approved for funding through TERC, the student also filled out a job application for the vacant lifeguard positions.
The instructor was Mrs. Laurie Lafferty-John who is the swim teacher and lifeguard trainer at Salamanca High School.
It was a great way that all the departments worked together along with Mrs. John to meet the demand so our pools could be opened on both territories!
Ja:goh everyone! So far we’ve had a very hot and humid summer, so it is much appreciated!
