Julieyanna “Jules” Parker was patrolling Coronado Beach near the water line when two girls playing in the sand came into focus.
They were probably somewhere between 6 and 8 years old, Parker estimates, and when they saw Parker with her long, blonde ponytail driving in the lifeguard vehicle, they gave her a wave.
Parker waved and one of them opened her mouth.
“Are you a lifeguard?” she said.
“Yeah, I’m a lifeguard,” Parker responded.
“And you’re a girl?” she asked.
“Yeah, you can be a lifeguard, and you can be a girl,” Parker said.
The girls were blown away by that information, Parker recalled in an interview with The Coronado News.
That happened three summers ago in her very first season working as a lifeguard in Coronado.
In fact, on Oct. 2, Parker, 27, was named lifeguard of the year at Celebrate Coronado, an event hosted by the city’s Chamber of Commerce highlighting first responders and a municipal employee of the year.
Lifeguard Captain Sean Carey said at the event that in the two years since joining the team full-time, Parker had obtained more than a handful of certifications, including rescue watercraft operator, peer support counselor and her California state fire marshal instructor 1 certification.
Carey also commended her for her work ethic, teachability and contagious attitude at work.
“Her attitude is more contagious than my attitude,” Carey said. “She has a way of engaging me that tells me I need to snap out of it.”
Other award winners were:
- Fire captain Andrew Dorosan with the Coronado Fire Department
- Police officer Andrew Hutchens with the Coronado Police Department
- City employee Sherry McGlaughlin
Police officer Andrew Hutchens receiving Police Employee of the Year award. Staff photo by Madeline Yang. Fire captain Andrew Dorosan receiving Firefighter of the Year award. Staff photo by Madeline Yang. Ocean lifeguard Julieyanna Parker receiving Lifeguard of the Year award. Staff photo by Madeline Yang. Sherry McGlaughlin receiving City Employee of the Year award. Staff photo by Madeline Yang.
Parker said that moment on the beach with the girls changed the trajectory of her career as a lifeguard.
“I want to be more on the backside of things – training, being involved in the lifeguard academy – to have more of a female presence,” she explained. “So when women go to the lifeguard academy, they see someone like them and they’re like, ‘Oh, cool. If she can do it, I can do it.’”
According to a performance audit of the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, Lifeguard Services Division from 2015, only 17% of California lifeguards were women at the time.
Parker is one of two full-time women lifeguards in Coronado, out of eight full-time staff. Out of the around 60 seasonal lifeguards, 10 are female.
This was about the same ratio at her lifeguard academy held through San Diego Miramar College. Out of the 50 total students, male and female, at the academy, Parker graduated sixth in her class and second among the women.
“It is intimidating looking at the numbers from that perspective. However, I also did very well in the academy,” Parker explained.
“Knowing that I can hold my own and outswim most of these guys definitely helps with my confidence,” Parker said with a light laugh.
Carey said it was unprecedented how quickly Parker was offered a full-time position as a Coronado lifeguard – just over a year after she started working as a part-timer.
She is an excellent example of a dedicated, skilled and professional ocean lifeguard.
Lifeguard Captain Sean Carey
“She is an excellent example of a dedicated, skilled and professional ocean lifeguard,” Carey said.
Parker came from a background in competitive swimming and volunteering for nonprofit organizations.
In college, she worked with a military nonprofit, Spirit of Liberty Foundation, a coastal conservancy called Wild Coast and Outdoor Outreach, a nonprofit working with San Diego youth.
She bartended after graduating from the University of San Diego but four years later decided she needed more out of a job.
That’s when she turned to ocean lifeguarding.
“I decided that lifeguarding was kind of the perfect mix of being a public servant and also working for the community,” Parker said. “My goal – and it’s broad, but it’s to just help as many people as I can.”
She also attributed her motivation to become a lifeguard to her dad, who worked in an office most of his life, but loved the outdoors. He told her that any chance she could get to not work in an office, she should do it.
So yeah, the fact that I could use my nonprofit background and my desire to help people – and also my office being the ocean – it’s literally kismet.
Ocean lifeguard Julieyanna “Jules” Parker
“So yeah, the fact that I could use my nonprofit background and my desire to help people – and also my office being the ocean – it’s literally kismet,” Parker said.
Even though Parker won lifeguard of the year this year, she attributes her accomplishment to a group effort.
“I had a challenging year, and I couldn’t have made it through the year without the support of all my coworkers,” she said.
