{"id":20304,"date":"2025-03-13T12:12:33","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T16:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/?p=20304"},"modified":"2025-03-28T10:21:12","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T14:21:12","slug":"waves-of-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/waves-of-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Waves of Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When he was just 6 years old, Gavin Loughlin learned how to surf in the waters off Wildwood, New Jersey. Spending summers at the Jersey Shore, where his grandparents owned a house, he picked up the hobby from his three older siblings and cousins, who spent most of their summer days swimming and surfing in the Atlantic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPretty much anything I can do in and around the ocean, I\u2019ve always been really drawn to,\u201d says Loughlin, a member of the men\u2019s swimming team. \u201cIt\u2019s a big part of why I chose Monmouth\u2014I could swim here and be able to surf in between classes and practice every day.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An experienced lifeguard and surf instructor, Loughlin was introduced to Surfers Healing through his connections in the surfing community, where he discovered the nonprofit\u2019s mission of enriching the lives of individuals with autism through the transformative experience of surfing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founded in 1996, Surfers Healing has served tens of thousands of participants around the world through daylong camps, where the sensory immersion of surfing provides a therapeutic escape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loughlin initially hopped onto the tail end of the group\u2019s Northeast tour four years ago, spending the first weekend of his sophomore year with them in Belmar, New Jersey, and Montauk, New York. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While he says the first trip out was overwhelming\u2014learning to ride tandem with inexperienced swimmers in six-foot swells\u2014he was immediately hooked after seeing how much the experience helps not just the children, but also their families. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cSurfers Healing\u2019s motto is \u2018one perfect day,\u2019 and for all these families, there\u2019s no better way to describe it than that,\u201d he says, noting that the day gives families of nonverbal children or those with behavioral challenges a chance to connect while their children have a fun, carefree experience on the water. \u201cYou definitely feel like you\u2019re really making a difference in people\u2019s lives.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This past August, Loughlin traveled with the organization on its Southeast tour, spending 10 days helping hundreds of kids experience the thrill of surfing. Each day, he worked one-on-one with about a dozen participants, earning their trust, acclimating them to the water, and safely guiding them through the surf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond connecting with fellow volunteers, Loughlin says the most rewarding part is seeing each rider transform, whether by opening up and connecting with other riders or letting loose and relishing the joys of catching their first waves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou create a bond with each kid out there because, whether they can communicate it or not, you can tell they develop a sense of trust for you. And once they get that first wave, it\u2019s easy to see from the stimulation and sensory experience they\u2019re having that [the experience] is so powerful for them,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loughlin, who earned his bachelor\u2019s in business administration from Monmouth last spring and is currently working toward an MBA, plans to pursue a career in finance. He has personal goals in mind too, such as winning the Catalina Classic (an endurance paddleboard race) and surfing the world\u2019s most iconic waves, including Mavericks in California. But volunteering with Surfers Healing will always remain a priority. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSurfing keeps me sane,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s so polar opposite of swimming, where you\u2019re always so focused on times. … I have the complete opposite mentality with surfing\u2014I just do it for fun, and I definitely plan on doing this for as long as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gavin Loughlin helps children and young adults with autism catch their first wave through Surfers Healing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":20305,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"image_focus":"{\"x\":82,\"y\":33}","hide_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics"],"thumbnail":"\"\"","catString":"Athletics","issue":"Spring 2025","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20304"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20317,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20304\/revisions\/20317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}