While school finishes in May, for some youth their education continues throughout the summer: They meet at pools and beaches to improve their swimming and water safety skills through a program called Junior Lifeguard.
It’s a way for kids to spend time in the water, train for other sports and find out what it takes to become a lifeguard, firefighter or police officer.
Expert lifeguards come to Molokai to teach the week-long program in June, and at the end of the rigorous week they choose a few local kids to attend the state finals on August 8. This year, four Molokai youth — Sakai Labrador, Xzavier Shotwell, Sophie Socher and Kauluwai Yamashita — competed in five different events at the annual Junior Lifeguard state championships at Honolulu’s Ala Moana Beach Park…