Webinar Recording

Public Schools and Water Safety

Resources

Public Schools and Water Safety: Bridging the Gap
9/12/2023 | 12PM-1pm
John Abdou, CWSC Board Member will be moderating!

Panelists include:

Megan Ferraro, Executive Director, The ZAC Foundation for Children’s Safety
Megan Ferraro is the Executive Director of The ZAC Foundation, where she oversees programs, directs philanthropic partnerships, and represents the nonprofit as a subject matter expert in aquatic sector initiatives, and at industry events, with both legislators and the media throughout the country, which is supported by her background in strategic communications and public relations. Megan is also a Steering Committee member of the US National Water Safety Action Plan, Advisory Council member of the National Drowning Prevention Alliance Advisory Board, PHTA Standards and Consensus Committee member and founding member and Steering Committee member of Families United to Prevent Drowning.

Jay Marquand, Ph.D.

Jay became a California State Beach Lifeguard during his senior year of high school. Being naïve to the ocean since he was an “in-lander” from the east county region of San Diego, and with most of his aquatic experience stemming from swim and water polo teams, he quickly learned the necessary skills to become a beach lifeguard through some incredible mentors. Those veteran lifeguard mentors shared their wealth of ocean and safety knowledge with Jay who continued a very successful lifeguard journey for 17 years as both a seasonal tower guard and then supervisor, while simultaneously working as a professional educator in public school systems before having to “retire” from the lifeguard service due to his commitments in education. During his lifeguard career in the San Diego Coast, North Sector, some of Jay’s accomplishments included; Most Valuable Lifeguard (2x), Most Improved Lifeguard and recipient of the initial Grant Award / Most Rescues (3x).

Jay is currently the Director of Adult Education for the Sweetwater Union High School District, which encompasses the San Diego, South County region. While his 30 plus years of professional education include district level leadership, school principal and assistant principal in middle grades, as well as dean of student services, counselor, teacher and coach in secondary / high school settings, it’s undoubtedly his experiences in the state lifeguard service that shaped his current path and had direct influence on his educational career. The lifelong lessons learned as a beach lifeguard including health and safety, perseverance, having a positive attitude, never giving up, teamwork, thinking quickly, providing leadership and service in emergencies, all of those skill sets have application and in many cases parallel, his current career as a professional educator.

Although Jay has a passion for serving others in the field of education, he always reflects fondly on the teachings from his lead supervisors in the state beach services and the lifeguard experiences that shaped him from a high school kid to the person he is today. These lifeguard influences can also be seen in other activities that encompass his life as well such as local and global travel, reading and spending time at the beach and in the ocean. Most of all, he enjoys sharing and building these memories with his beautiful wife, son and daughter, from their home which is 300 yards away from one beaches he spent his years as a lifeguard.

Robert Kamins, Chair of the Board, Rose Bowl Aquatics Center

Robert Kamins is a management consultant and business executive who also serves as the current Board Chair of the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center. He has a background in aquatics as a former competitive swimmer and water polo player, waterpark manager, lifeguard, and water safety instructor. Robert is proud that his family continues to enjoy and participate in aquatics and that his volunteerism helps increase access to aquatic water safety and life lessons for his diverse community.