Seniors Meyer, Stouder create a summer beach camp

By Emily von Buttlar 

Feature Editor

Seniors Lucas Meyer and Maddie Stouder created and managed a summer beach camp in lieu of Junior Guards being canceled this past summer. 

Both seniors have experience in water safety making them eligible to teach these kids some of the basic skills. Meyers has been teaching private surf lessons for almost a year in Hermosa and participated in the Junior  Lifeguard program for six years. Stouder plays for the Mira Costa water polo team so she is experienced in the water and was also a part of the Junior Lifeguards program for four years. 

“One of the friends of my mom’s friends reached out and asked ‘Would you be interested in running this summer program?,’ Meyer said. “I said of course because I had already been thinking about running one.”

Stouder joined Meyer to run the beach camp and started on Monday, June 29 when the Hermosa beaches opened up again. They were planning on having a shorter camp but the kids wanted the camp to continue so they taught for one more week. They had 6-8 kids a day all who were going into 8th grade.

“I wanted a girl to [teach at the camp] because I knew it would make the parents feel more comfortable if we had a boy and a girl there,” Meyer said. “From a business standpoint it would be more profitable and a better decision.”

They followed the same regiment of buoy swims, relay races, food days and free surf time just like in the Junior Lifeguards program with the added rules of wearing masks and social distancing. One of the challenges they faced was keeping their masks on as they were running in and out of the water.

“We practiced social distancing, and once you are out in the water you aren’t within six feet of anyone,” Stouder said. “We were worried though, we had the sanitation necessities but we didn’t really need it since everyone kept to themselves.”   

Meyer and Stouder taught the kids how to surf, paddle and played games. They also taught CPR and other important water safety skills. Meyer also made sure to keep the parents informed about what is going on during the camp by emailing them a detailed explanation of what they did that day and issues that occurred that day. 

“We both grew up doing Junior Lifeguards and I play water polo so we both know how important it is to everybody to get out,” Stouder said. “We thought we could do a camp with some kids and get them back out to the beach since we felt everyone was feeling cooped up.” 

Overall, Meyer and Stouder had a really good time teaching the kids. They hope to do this again next summer with the same group and maybe some more new kids. 

“I think we might even do it if there are [Junior Guards] because we fell in love with them,” Stouder said. “They’re such a cool group of kids, we have inside jokes and just played around with each other.”