Class 8

5/17/12

We began today's class with our final test. It was actually easier than the first test and I was really happy that I only missed three questions this time around. We talked about the answers for a little while and then suited up to begin the first round of water skill tests! I'm the kind of person that gets really anxious about finals and stuff like that so I usually like to go close to the beginning so that I'm not just stressing the whole time. When they asked for volunteers, my hand shot up and I was put in the group that would finish all four tests today. Thankfully, I didn't have to be the very first person to go and I got to watch and see what we would have to do before I was thrown to the wolves.

The first round of tests actually went pretty well; Someone manned the deep end, another person took the diving boards and still another person watched the shallow end. It was fairly obvious how each victim was supposed to "drown" and everything went smoothly. I even had fun pretending to flirt with one of the lifeguards to distract them.

But when my turn came, the butterflies in my stomach went a little crazy. The first task I had was to sit by the high dive/where the deep end sloped up into the shallow end. I slid my buoy over my neck and took the whistle into my hand, giving it a little swing for luck. I started to relax when the scenario began, and scanned the pool for possible victims. After a while, I noticed a girl named Bridie wave her arms and sink to the bottom. I yelled EAP hoarsely and gave the whistle a sharp blow before striding into the pool to the rescue. I  did exactly what I was supposed to and executed the rescue flawlessly. I was feeling really proud of myself when I saw the instructor's unusually grim face. The grin slid off my face as I exited the pool, Bridie in tow. I had gone over the time limit, Sam informed me. I did everything right, just the victim would have been dead in real life because I didn't notice her in time. I felt horrible, but they reassured me that I still had a second chance and promptly pushed me over to the CPR section, where I was to begin the next test. I felt like I needed a moment to just process and breathe, but I guess I needed to get the CPR over with anyways.

CPR has come easy to me since the first class and I performed that section of the test on autopilot and passed with flying colors. I must have still looked a little numb afterwards because Imani came over and gave me a hug and told me that I would nail it next time. Then I got some time to rest and play the victim for other people to rescue. Shortly after, I successfully completed and passed my active victim drowning and shallow water spinal tests. Much to my dismay, we ran out of time for me to run the deep water rescue again, but I was promised first shot at it the next class. 3 out of 4 tests completed, I was feeling pretty good, but not as good as I was sure I would feel the next day when I passed all of the tests and became an official lifeguard for real.