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According to the City of Glendale Parks and Recreation Department, the major barrier to teens participating in the 24 hour lifeguard training session, which included CPR and first aid instruction, was the $100 session fee. While this money would be refunded to any teen that was hired to lifeguard at one of the City of Glendale pools, many potential lifeguards were discouraged by the upfront cost.

The Glendale Public Library’s goal for the Fit for Life program was to have teens try new fitness skills.  Giving teens the chance to participate in the lifeguarding classes was a perfect opportunity for the library to develop a  partnership with the Parks and Recreation Department while simultaneously, opening doors for teens to be more physically active. 

Ten teens registered for the lifeguard training through the library and were each given a scholarship for lifeguarding classes, paid for by the library’s Fit for Life grant. The Parks and Recreation Department feared that the teens may not be invested in the program if they did not pay to participate, but charging the teens to take part in the program was against library policy. So, the library devised a creative solution: teens signed a commitment form stating that if they dropped out of the program, they would pay the library $25, which would be charged to the teen’s library card. Luckily, every teen who received a scholarship successfully completed the entire program!

In return for recruiting teens and sponsoring lifeguarding scholarships, the Parks and Recreation Department agreed to deposit all of the money the library paid to get the lifeguards trained into a separate scholarship fund, which pays for kids and teens who cannot afford to play sports and participate in activities through the City of Glendale. 

The Parks and Recreation Department took their partnership with the library even further by  also agreeing that any monies spent by the library to use the Parks and Recreation facilities or instructors for their FFL softball, fitness or soccer clinics would also be donated to the scholarship fund. In this way, the library’s funds are continuing to encourage teens to develop new sports skills and stay active.

Meanwhile, back at the library, teens are getting in shape and having fun! The library used some of their grant funds to purchase equipment to host tournaments on Nintendo’s new gaming system, Wii. In the first tournament alone, 27 teens participated in games of baseball and bowling, all without leaving the library.

By all accounts, Glendale Public Library’s Fit for Life programs has been very well received by the teens and community overall and will continue to offer exciting and interactive programs through the end of the year.

Teens playing baseball on Nintendo's
Wii gaming system at the Glendale
Public Library.

Library Staff:

Susan Murray,
Head of Teen Services

 

Community Partners:

• City of Glendale Parks and Recreation Department

To read about more successful Get Real, Get Fit! and Fit for Life programs, visit the Library Showcase Archives by clicking here!