MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee County Parks is now hosting several training sessions in January and February to hire more lifeguards this summer.

The goal is to get ahead of last summer’s shortage that led them to close several of its waterparks because there weren’t enough lifeguards to staff them.

Gloria Boileau is one of 10 people that came out to Noyes Pool in Milwaukee on Saturday to start her lifeguard training.

“I love to swim and until a couple of years ago, I never competed at all and I’m in the pool regularly. I know that they need lifeguards and I said I really want to be a part of that,” said Boileau.

To become a lifeguard, Milwaukee County Parks requires the candidate to be able to swim 100 meters in less than a minute and 45 seconds.

“I tried it yesterday, and it didn’t work,” laughed Boileau.

Boileau tried again but missed the mark. Fortunately, she still has a few months to reach that goal and she is confident she will.

“I know it 100% I can do it and they are telling us that we are going to get the help that we need,” Boileau said. “All I have to do is be in this pool on a regular basis and I will achieve 1 minute and 45 seconds in a very short period of time.”

Boileau also learned the sidestroke during her first training session. This technique is used to allow the lifeguard to carry another person.

As Boileau continues to improve her swimming, she looks forward to being a lifeguard.

“In the COVID time, you couldn’t go to any swimming pools and then later on, they didn’t have enough lifeguards, and I kept hearing that and so I thought, hey I want to be a lifeguard in Milwaukee so that more people can learn how to swim because there is no exercise that’s better than swimming on a regular basis,” said Boileau.

The training sessions will be every Saturday until Feb. 25. For more information on registration, click here.