A legion of Manhattan High students spent a great deal of their summer directly under the sun’s rays, taking to the top of creamy-white lifeguard chairs.

“I love the pool. I swim on the swim team and I’ve been known to swim before I could walk so the pool’s always been like a second home for me and I just love summer and being at the pool and the smell of sunscreen and all of that stuff,” senior Julie Golden said. “I get free highlights in my hair, don’t have to go to the salon for those. The tan’s pretty nice too. I think helping people [is what I enjoy most about the job]. I’ve just always loved helping people. It’s fun to see all the little kids having fun because I loved the pool when I was little and it’s just fun to share the love of the pool with other people.”

This summer was Golden’s first year as a lifeguard at CiCo Pool, and like many MHS lifeguards, she has enjoyed getting to know people she may not have met otherwise.

“I actually love all of my fellow guards. It’s a lot of fun… It feels like a family,” Golden said. “It’s nice [to work with other MHS students]. On my first day, I already knew some people so I didn’t feel alone and we do have other people who don’t go to MHS, like a few from Rock Creek.… I love meeting new people. As a military kid, I’m used to new environments and new people so it really wasn’t a challenge for me.”

Senior Robyn Burton took a lifeguard position at Northview Pool two summers ago, but she feels the same.

“Most of us are really close so it makes it like having a second family to go to so I love the job,” Burton said. “I became close with people that I would have never imagined being close with. Caleb Gorman is a great example. He was a senior when we were freshmen so I kind of knew of him, but over these last two years we have gotten so close that we are like siblings to each other.”

The annual Lifeguard Olympics has also brought lifeguards from all three of the pools together for some time now.

“It was a lot of fun but it was also kind of stressful,” Golden said. “We have this event called the Iron Woman where you have to swim a 500, do five minutes of CPR, go up and down both slides at City Pool, go through the lazy river backwards one and a half times and swim another 200. It was very strenuous. Because CiCo Pool is so small, I was in two other events before I did the Iron Woman event. Afterwards, my whole team congratulated me and they were like ‘you did such a good job’ and came up to me and gave me a hug and it was so nice and I was like ‘guys, I came in last place, but thanks anyway’. It was good team-building for the CiCo staff. The good thing about The Lifeguard Olympics is that you grow closer to the staff and you all come together to strive to be the best lifeguards.”

Though the pools will soon close with the end of summer approaching, Golden and Burton both have plans to return next year.