Summer’s graduating class

A night of memories, laughs and celebration wrapped up a tiring yet inspiring eight-week camp for Newport Beach children Tuesday, when the Newport Beach Junior Lifeguards celebrated their 25th anniversary with their latest graduating class.

About 1,200 kids between 9 and 15 enrolled in the junior lifeguard program this year, program organizers said.

Kids were taught everything from ocean and beach safety to first aid and what it takes to be a lifeguard.

The program is annually one of the fire department’s most popular events, with many of the kids turning it into an annual summer tradition and enrolling every year.

Mondays through Wednesdays the kids learn and train with instructors, but Thursdays are competition day, when all of the “Type-A” personalities, as one lifeguard put it, can exercise their instincts to be the best.

Kids also participated in the “Monster Mile,” where kids run a mile up the beach, paddle out past the waves, then swim a mile back to the starting point. Parents say it’s a good activity for their children in the summer, and the kids say it’s fun to be at the beach and hang out with friends.

The camp culminated Tuesday with a graduation ceremony, some movies of the camp reminiscing on another summer gone by, and last but not least, a fireworks show off Balboa Pier.

— Joseph Serna