Teen lifeguard's swift ocean rescue of swept child wins White House honor

On a summer afternoon at Seabright State Beach in Santa Cruz, a sixteen-year-old rookie lifeguard named Ryder Williams entered the Pacific after a ten-year-old boy was swept fifteen yards offshore by the current. In just over two minutes, with the instinctive help of nearby beachgoers, the child was returned safely to shore. The act was captured on video, and in the way that certain moments of uncalculated courage tend to travel, it moved quickly from a California beach to the national conscience — and ultimately to the White House, where Williams has been invited to receive one of the country