Sina Riahi, City of San Clemente Lifeguard of the Year, Honored by San Clemente Exchange Club

San Clemente Times

On Thursday, Sept. 28, the San Clemente Exchange Club honored San Clemente Lifeguard Sina Riahi, awarding him with the 2017 Lifeguard of the Year award, according to a press release from the city of San Clemente.

The Exchange Club hosts this awards luncheon annually at the San Clemente Municipal Golf Course Clubhouse. City Council member Chris Hamm presented Riahi with a plaque and challenge coin on behalf of the city.

Riahi has been a lifeguard with the city since the spring of 2013 and completed his fifth consecutive summer with the city this year.

“Sina graduated from San Francisco State University with a Bachelors of Science in Business Management, and graduated from the City College of San Francisco’s Firefighter 1 Academy, both in spring of 2017,” the release stated. “He serves on FEMA’s disaster response team and works as an Emergency Medical Technician in San Francisco during the off season. He grew up in Mission Viejo and is the inaugural recipient of the Ben Carlson Scholarship, and the recipient of San Francisco State University’s President’s Scholarship. Riahi also served as a director on the Associated Students Inc. Board of Directors.”

The release also stated that Riahi volunteers with San Francisco Fire Department’s Toy Program, San Francisco State Disability Programs & Resources Center, San Francisco Neighborhood Emergency Response Team and is a community educator for San Francisco Fire Department Public Safety Fairs. He is a member of the Berkeley Medical Reserve Corp and served as vice president/treasurer of the San Clemente Surf Lifesaving Association.

“I would like to thank my mother for everything she went through while raising me and my twin brother,” Riahi said after receiving the award.

The event sponsors included Chad Schiel, president of the San Clemente Exchange Club; Kelan O’Brien, an artist; Jay Longley and Pat Huber of Rainbow Sandals; Barry Pierce of BeachFire San Clemente; Bob Conrad of Conrad Realtors, Inc.; Greydon Day of G’Day Surfboards; and Jim Richardson of Rich’s Signs.