Christchurch student Teal Cola’s riptide rescue 

Somewhere there’s a dad and young son who are grateful for the help of strangers.

Teal Cola, a Christchurch School (CCS) junior, has been a lifeguard at the Ricky Taylor Memorial Pool in Deltaville for two years. She also lives at CCS and her parents are CCS faculty members.

On a July morning, Teal and her parents Dave and Abigail Cola were on the beach at Kitty Hawk, N.C. They were walking towards Teal’s surfing lesson and saw a man running towards a lifeguard stand that was a good way down the beach. She turned and saw two people way out past the sandbar yelling for help. “A riptide had taken them out,” said Teal.