Old Mill Teacher Spends Summers Saving Lives on the Beach

For the last 14 summers, Old Mill High School (OMHS) teacher Mat Postell has spent his days protecting vacationers on the beaches of Ocean City, MD.

During the school year, Postell teaches calculus and algebra and serves as head coach of both the junior varsity soccer team and varsity tennis. When summer break begins, Postell moves to Ocean City along with his wife and young daughters, where he serves as a member of the Ocean City Beach Patrol (OCBP).

Postell said that, having grown up in Ocean City, joining the Beach Patrol was something he looked forward to throughout his childhood.  

"I graduated from high school in 1997," Postell said. “And the very next day I started out with Beach Patrol.”

Postell spent his college days in Alabama, attending Auburn University where he received a degree in mechanical engineering. While spending his summers back in Ocean City as a lifeguard, Postell met Skip Lee.

Lee, also an educator, serves as the coordinator of physical education for Anne Arundel County Public Schools during the school year, and is also a first lieutenant for the OCBP during the summer.

"Skip is the person who talked me into becoming a teacher,” Postell said. "I was planning to go into engineering when he told me how several of the guys on Beach Patrol teach during the year so they can work at the beach all summer. I became hooked on the idea of teaching to shape the lives of kids in America, and I left the engineering field and took a teaching and coaching job in Baltimore County.”

Lee only had words of praise to share about Postell.

“Mat continues to give greatly to the patrol and to the Old Mill community as teacher and coach. I am fortunate to know Mat in all three capacities," Lee said.

At the time, Postell's wife taught physical education at OMHS and when there was an opening in the school's math department, he decided to make the switch.

"I love the kids I teach and coach at Old Mill," Postell said. "I'm really living the best of both worlds, getting to work with some great kids throughout the school year and then getting to work at the beach in the summers.”

For the last four years, Postell has served as a sergeant for OCBP and is responsible for driving quads, the Beach Patrol's 4-wheeled emergency response vehicles, and responding to medical emergencies.

“We carry defibrillators on the quads and we have a higher level of medical training," Postell said.

"I cover the area of beach between 18th and 52nd streets and I spend most of my day checking in with the different crew chiefs and making sure everyone has the coverage they need to keep beach goers safe," Postell said.  

Postell spoke excitedly about the extra training he has received this summer as a part of his OCBP duties.

"We spent a few weeks this summer learning how to get dropped out of the helicopter in case we needed to save a drowning victim, which was really cool," he said. "We also had to do an exercise where we were caged and buckled and submerged in a pool, and had to learn how to get out of the cage, simulating what we would need to do if the helicopter crashed over the ocean. It was all really interesting and exciting."

This has been an exciting summer for OCBP, with two swimmers who needed CPR on the beach, Postell said.

"One person had a heart attack and the other had an arrhythmia and didn't know it. Their heart stopped in the water and one of my crew was the first to respond. We're two for two for saving lives this year and that makes me so proud.”

Postell shared that one of the highlights of his summer is when his students track him down at the beach to say hello.

"It's fun to see them," Postell said. "Sometimes things get boring out there and it's nice to spend some time catching up with the students and having someone to talk to."