The Lifeguard Program in Braintree Serves Sunset Lake & Smith Beach

By Joseph Markman, Braintree Patch

BRAINTREE, Mass. -- On the afternoon of June 20, 2012, three lifeguards at Sunset Lake sprang into action to help save a drowning 16-year-old.

The young man was struggling in the water and slipped below the surface, prompting Nicole Tobin, Craig Shadduck (third from left) and Matthew Watts pull him to safety, onto a kayak and over to paramedics on land, Mayor Joseph Sullivan said during an award ceremony at Braintree Town Hall recently.

"If it wasn't for the work of these three young people, that 16-year-old probably wouldn't have made it," Sullivan said. "It was quick action."

Sullivan presented the three Braintree lifeguards with Employee of the Quarter certificates of recognition and also $25 gift certificates to Kristin's. 

"Who knows the multiplier effect of your actions," Sullivan said.

Recreation Department Director Nelson Chin added that he was proud of the lifeguards: "It was a great job by three good kids."

Tobin is going into her junior year at Boston College, where she is studying International Studies and History. Shadduck and Watts are both criminal justice majors, Shadduck as a rising junior at Bridgewater State University and Watts as a rising senior at Westfield State. Shadduck competes on the men’s soccer team at BSU and is heading into his third season with the Bears.