Summer of Saving: Piper Benjamin recaps her summer as a beach lifeguard in New Jersey

Senior Piper Benjamin took her last final of junior year, said her goodbyes and her summer had officially begun.

With her entire life packed up into one suitcase and a carryon, she was on her way to New Jersey to become a lifeguard for the Avalon Beach Patrol. This would be her first summer away from home, the swim team and her friends.

She spent the first few days getting accustomed to her tiny new house in Avalon Beach.

“It was definitely an adjustment, having to share a bathroom and being 3 feet away from Piper all the time,” Piper’s mom, Jen Benjamin said. “But we were 140 steps from the beach and neither of us were home much anyways.”

According to Jen, seeing Piper at home was a rare occurrence all summer. She had been visiting her mom’s family since she was a baby, and already knew most of her cousin’s friends from her yearly visits. She always had plans, whether that be camping trips, intense workout sessions or just working on her tan with her girlfriends.

The Avalon Beach Patrol had high requirements to become a lifeguard. Applicants had to swim half a mile through ocean waves and run a mile on the sand in under 7 minutes 30 seconds.

“Nerves were definitely high, she didn’t really know what to expect,” Jen said. “She would be competing against people who lived on the island and had been doing this for years, so she was up against a lot.”

Piper finished number six out of a hundred contestants for the swimming portion, but she ran 7 seconds over the time limit. She trained every day for weeks in the burning hot sun, determined to drop time. During her second attempt, she’d run 30 seconds faster and officially became a lifeguard.

She spent all day on stand chatting with the other guards, getting tan and even assisting in a few saves. Every morning, guards were briefed on various conditions, including riptides, wind direction, wave height and even jellyfish. Being AED, CPR, Collision and Sea spine trained and certified, the guards could handle anything.

Every night, hundreds of bicycles were strewn across beach entrances and lawns from partygoers. Immediately after sundown, tons of kids clustered together in crowds on the beach or in summer homes. Here, Piper would meet kids from all over the country.

Most didn’t even know where Kansas City was, so she took on a new persona. She talked in a thick southern accent and said she lived on a farm. With her platinum blonde hair and deep tan, she could easily pass for a southern belle.

“I used to mess with people and talk about covered wagons and playing with tumbleweeds back home and taking the horses to school,” Piper said. “The parties were totally different, the music specifically. I had never heard so many remixes in my life”

Now that she’s back in Kansas City, she constantly listens to the same remixes in her car and thinks of her friends from the beach. It was really painful to leave people she had gotten so close to, but she vowed to stay in contact until she can visit again.

“I made friends that I think I will have literally forever,” Piper said.