An effort is being made to bring more lifeguards to Presque Isle after facing a lifeguard shortage.

According to the Presque Isle Lifeguard Association, the shortage of lifeguards brought a concern of water safety for everyone, ranging from park administration to tourists.

Mercyhurst University is now teaming up to help bring more lifeguards to Presque isle with a scholarship that will offer people additional financial aid to defray their cost of attendance due to their contribution to the community as lifeguards.

The president of the university said lifeguarding is important to the Erie community as Presque Isle is the primary tourist draw during the summer.

“If we don’t have enough lifeguards, people don’t have enough beaches that they can swim on and that’s detrimental to Erie. This benefits Erie and of course, it benefits Mercyhurst because it brings the kinds of students that we like to have at Mercyhurst,” said Kathy Getz, president, Mercyhurst University.

The president of the Presque Isle Lifeguard Association said he would advise people to take the position as it is transformative relative to how you begin and how you end.