This is the year to end drowning and promote safer, cleaner waters
Red Cross Adult & Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED training
Save a life! Learn to recognize and care for a variety of first aid breathing and cardiac emergencies involving adults, children and infants. This class is taught in-person in an interactive classroom setting. Upon successful completion, participants receive a valid 2-year digital Red Cross certificate for Adult & Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED. Open to everyone ages 12+. Discounts are available for WaterStrong volunteers, EcoSwim participant families and Next Adventure staff. Delivered at Next Adventure Paddle Sports Center on the 2d Saturday and 4th Friday of every month. Register here
Lifeguarding + Waterfront Skills certification
The Red Cross Waterfront Skills module, integrated into the Lifeguarding course, equips lifeguards with the knowledge and skills to prevent and respond to emergencies in non-surf, open-water areas like parks, resorts, and camps.
The course is open to anyone 15+, with discounts for WaterStrong volunteers and EcoSwim families. Participants must pass a swim skills test and complete online coursework.
The trainer for this course is Marlys Cappaert, a certified Red Cross LGI, professional Swimtrek guide, and WaterStrong volunteer.
Key Skills and Knowledge:
Water Rescue Techniques: Lifeguards learn how to enter the water for rescues, including run-and-swim entries, and techniques for assisting individuals in distress.
Search and Retrieval: Learn search patterns and techniques for locating missing persons in open water, potentially using equipment like nets or masks and fins.
Equipment: Learn to use equipment specific to waterfront environments, such as rescue tubes, surfboards, or paddleboards, depending on the environment.
First Aid and CPR: The course reinforces first aid and CPR/AED skills, essential for responding to emergencies in and out of the water.
Water Safety: Learn about the specific hazards of open-water environments, such as currents, depths, and aquatic life, and how to mitigate these risks.
Environmental Awareness: Gain knowledge about the specific waterfront environment where they are lifeguarding, including potential hazards and safety protocols.
Course Structure:
This is is a multi-day class delivered online and in person at a community center pool and classroom setting. The course is a blended learning format, combining online training sessions with in-person skills training and water rescue activities. Participants must successfully complete all portions including the prerequisite swimming skills evaluations and the final skills assessment.
The final skills assessment includes timed response scenarios, surveillance rotations, and multiple-rescuer response scenarios.
General run of the program (planned):
Thursday 4/17 (Lifeguarding): 5p - 9p
Friday 4/18 (Lifeguarding): 9a - 9p
Saturday 4/19 (Lifeguarding / Waterfront skills): 9a - 5p
Sunday 4/20 (Waterfront skills): 9a - 2p
Certification: American Red Cross certifications in Lifeguarding, First Aid and CPR/AED (valid for 2 years) issued on the same day as you successfully complete the class.
Fee (discounts for WaterStrong volunteers and EcoSwim participants)
LG+WF: $350 per person
LG only: $300 per person
WF only: (must have current LG certification): $100 per person
Register: https://forms.gle/jwLPtJgXLC1x2vEj9
Earth Day 2025 - beach cleanups
Join WaterStrong and Earth Day celebrants everywhere in a beach cleanup. Details TBD
Red Cross Adult & Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED training
Save a life! Learn to recognize and care for a variety of first aid breathing and cardiac emergencies involving adults, children and infants. This class is taught in-person in an interactive classroom setting. Upon successful completion, participants receive a valid 2-year digital Red Cross certificate for Adult & Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED. Open to everyone ages 12+. Discounts are available for WaterStrong volunteers, EcoSwim participant families and Next Adventure staff. Delivered at Next Adventure Paddle Sports Center on the 2d Saturday and 4th Friday of every month. Register here
Red Cross Adult & Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED training
Save a life! Learn to recognize and care for a variety of first aid breathing and cardiac emergencies involving adults, children and infants. This class is taught in-person in an interactive classroom setting. Upon successful completion, participants receive a valid 2-year digital Red Cross certificate for Adult & Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED. Open to everyone ages 12+. Discounts are available for WaterStrong volunteers, EcoSwim participant families and Next Adventure staff. Delivered at Next Adventure Paddle Sports Center on the 2d Saturday and 4th Friday of every month. Register here
Walking Rivers global event
WalkingRivers is a worldwide call to walk along your favorite river for at least 5-7km dressed in blue, to show that rivers are awesome and worth being taken care of. It is more than an event; it’s a movement to remind us of our shared responsibility to cherish and safeguard the waterbodies that unite us.
Rivers weave through landscapes, communities, and cultures connecting us through uncountable stories and memories. In 2024, Walking Rivers celebrated the first-ever event with over 2,000 participants across five continents from across the globe who all believed that rivers are worth enjoying and protecting.
WaterStrong is thrilled to join the global WalkingRivers movement, a project organized through our friends at Fundacion Botin in Madrid, Spain.
Water Safety Awareness event
A community outreach program designed to introduce participants to the essentials of water safety. Participants learn how to fit a lifejacket properly, assess the safety of a swimming location, employ the buddy system, practice safe entry and exit, and practice basic assists (self-assist, reach assist, throw assist, call assist).
Open to: Anyone 5 years old and up
EcoSwim clinic (pool based)
Share your love for the water. EcoSwim clinics are delivered in partnership with mission-aligned organizations to reach underserved families. With low instructor:participant ratios, we build a foundation in the essentials of safety around water, survival swimming, and water-based environmental education. Volunteers receive a WaterStrong t-shirt, swim cap, gift card of appreciation, and a light meal. Email to volunteer at the 5/18 EcoSwim clinic
Red Cross Adult & Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED training
Save a life! Learn to recognize and care for a variety of first aid breathing and cardiac emergencies involving adults, children and infants. This class is taught in-person in an interactive classroom setting. Upon successful completion, participants receive a valid 2-year digital Red Cross certificate for Adult & Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED. Open to everyone ages 12+. Discounts are available for WaterStrong volunteers, EcoSwim participant families and Next Adventure staff. Delivered at Next Adventure Paddle Sports Center on the 2d Saturday and 4th Friday of every month. Register here
Red Cross Adult & Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED training
Save a life! Learn to recognize and care for a variety of first aid breathing and cardiac emergencies involving adults, children and infants. This class is taught in-person in an interactive classroom setting. Upon successful completion, participants receive a valid 2-year digital Red Cross certificate for Adult & Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED. Open to everyone ages 12+. Discounts are available for WaterStrong volunteers, EcoSwim participant families and Next Adventure staff. Delivered at Next Adventure Paddle Sports Center on the 2d Saturday and 4th Friday of every month. Register here
EcoSwim clinic (pool based)
Share your love for the water. EcoSwim clinics are delivered in partnership with mission-aligned organizations to reach underserved families. With low instructor:participant ratios, we build a foundation in the essentials of safety around water, survival swimming, and water-based environmental education. Volunteers needed. Volunteers receive a WaterStrong t-shirt, swim cap, gift card of appreciation, and a light meal. Email to volunteer for the 6/15 EcoSwim clinic.
Red Cross Adult & Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED training
Save a life! Learn to recognize and care for a variety of first aid breathing and cardiac emergencies involving adults, children and infants. This class is taught in-person in an interactive classroom setting. Upon successful completion, participants receive a valid 2-year digital Red Cross certificate for Adult & Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED. Open to everyone ages 12+. Discounts are available for WaterStrong volunteers, EcoSwim participant families and Next Adventure staff. Delivered at Next Adventure Paddle Sports Center on the 2d Saturday and 4th Friday of every month. Register here
EcoSwim Clinic (pool based)
Share your love for the water. EcoSwim clinics are delivered in partnership with mission-aligned organizations to reach underserved families. With low instructor:participant ratios, we build a foundation in the essentials of safety around water, survival swimming, and water-based environmental education. Volunteers needed. Volunteers receive a WaterStrong t-shirt, swim cap, gift card of appreciation, and a light meal. Email to volunteer for the 4/6 EcoSwim clinic
Red Cross Adult & Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED training
Save a life! Learn to recognize and care for a variety of first aid breathing and cardiac emergencies involving adults, children and infants. This class is taught in-person in an interactive classroom setting. Upon successful completion, participants receive a valid 2-year digital Red Cross certificate for Adult & Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED. Open to everyone ages 12+. Discounts are available for WaterStrong volunteers, EcoSwim participant families and Next Adventure staff. Delivered at Next Adventure Paddle Sports Center on the 2d Saturday and 4th Friday of every month. Register here
Rainy Days Book Club: Blue Mind by Wallace Nichols
Please join WaterStrong for a facilitated conversation about how being in, near, around or under water can make you happier, healthier, more connected and better at what you do. In our first ever WaterStrong Rainy Days Book Club, we are reading Blue Mind by Wallace Nichols.
Please join a facilitated conversation about the book and the human experience of water on World Water Day, March 22nd, from 5-6:30p via Teams.
Here's a little teaser to entice you to join the discussion:
A Texan named Bobby Lane came to Operation Surf to cross surfing off his bucket list; after returning home from the camp he planned to kill himself. Lane, twenty-seven years old, suffered a traumatic brain injury while serving in the US Marine Corps in Iraq. Back home, like so many other he battled PTSD and couldn’t sleep due to incessant nightmares. He says Operation Surf not only changed his life, it saved his life. Surfing also allowed him to get his first good night’s sleep in years. Dreams about water replaced his midnight terrors, Blue Mind at its most potent. “Giving up on life isn’t an option,” he says. Now, as I see it, if life gets too hard, there’s always the ocean. (p.171)
Read as much of the book as you can, and log in for a friendly conversation.
EcoSwim clinic (pool based)
Share your love for the water. EcoSwim clinics are delivered in partnership with mission-aligned organizations to reach underserved families. With low instructor:participant ratios, we build a foundation in the essentials of safety around water, survival swimming, and water-based environmental education. Volunteers receive a WaterStrong t-shirt, swim cap, gift card of appreciation, and a light meal. Email to volunteer for the 3/9 EcoSwim clinic
Red Cross Adult & Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED training
Save a life! Learn to recognize and care for a variety of first aid breathing and cardiac emergencies involving adults, children and infants. This class is taught in-person in an interactive classroom setting. Upon successful completion, participants receive a valid 2-year digital Red Cross certificate for Adult & Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED. Open to everyone ages 12+. Discounts are available for WaterStrong volunteers, EcoSwim participant families and Next Adventure staff. Delivered at Next Adventure Paddle Sports Center on the 2d Saturday and 4th Friday of every month. Register here
EcoSwim clinic (pool-based)
Share your love for the water. EcoSwim clinics are delivered in partnership with mission-aligned organizations to reach underserved families. With low instructor:participant ratios, we build a foundation in the essentials of safety around water, survival swimming, and water-based environmental education. Volunteers needed. Volunteers receive a WaterStrong t-shirt, swim cap, gift card of appreciation, and a light meal. Email us to volunteer
Red Cross Adult & Pediatric First Aid / CPR / AED workshop
Save a life! Learn to recognize and care for a variety of first aid breathing and cardiac emergencies involving adults, children and infants. This class is taught in-person in an interactive classroom setting. Upon successful completion, participants receive a valid 2-year digital Red Cross certificate for Adult & Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED. Open to everyone ages 12+. Discounts are available for WaterStrong volunteers, EcoSwim participant families and Next Adventure staff. Delivered at Next Adventure Paddle Sports Center on the 2d Saturday and 4th Friday of every month. Register here
Red Cross Adult & Pediatric basic First Aid / CPR / AED certification workshop
Save a life! Learn to recognize and care for a variety of first aid breathing and cardiac emergencies involving adults, children and infants. This class is taught in-person in an interactive classroom setting. Upon successful completion, participants receive a valid 2-year digital Red Cross certificate for Adult & Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED. Open to everyone ages 12+. Discounts are available for WaterStrong volunteers, EcoSwim participant families and Next Adventure staff. Register here
Red Cross Adult & Pediatric Firs Aid/CPR/AED training
Save a life! Learn to recognize and care for a variety of first aid breathing and cardiac emergencies involving adults, children and infants. This class is taught in-person in an interactive classroom setting. Upon successful completion, participants receive a valid 2-year digital Red Cross certificate for Adult & Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED. Open to everyone ages 12+. Discounts are available for WaterStrong volunteers, EcoSwim participant families and Next Adventure staff. Delivered at Next Adventure Paddle Sports Center on the 2d Saturday and 4th Friday of every month. Register here
EcoSwim Clinic (pool-based)
Share your love for the water. This clinic is delivered with low instructor:participant ratios, to build a foundation in the essentials of safety around water, survival swimming, and water-based environmental education.