Creating a community splash in Rochester with Fishes n' Apples

Apr. 29—ROCHESTER — Jose Cruz wants to create lifelong memories as he encourages 11 emerging swimmers to splash and blow bubbles in the Willow Creek Middle School pool.

"It's something that you remember your whole life," he said about learning to swim.

As the lead instructor for the University of Minnesota's Fishes n' Apples program, he said the goal is also to open the beginning swimmers to new opportunities.

"The people who don't know how to swim, or how to swim well, they miss half of the world," said Cruz, who is the Rochester Recreation Center pool manager and instructor.

As the program's name suggests, expanding boundaries also includes nutrition lessons from extension health and wellness coordinators Milena Nunez Garcia and Kowsar Adan, who helped create the Fishes n' Apples initiative.

With data showing unintentional drowning is the leading cause of death among children under 5 and the second leading cause for those under 15 in the United States, Nunez Garcia and Adan said they saw the need for access to swimming lessons among many of the families they served in their roles as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program educators.

Cruz said he was eager to collaborate to address the needs.

"In the many years of working in water safety, I have realized there is a strong relationship between education and wellness in all matters," Cruz said.

The program launched with the help of a 2019 RNeighbors Neighborhood Project Grant seeking to address the need for swimming and nutrition education in the Oak Terrace and Parkside mobile home neighborhoods.

"RNeighbors was a little skeptical at first to grant swim lessons," RNeighbors' executive director Rene Halasy said. "We didn't quite understand how that was going to work."

She said as the classes started, she and others quickly saw the communities build connections, among parents of the beginning swimmers gathering at the poolside.

The program expanded with additional RNeighbors grants in 2022 and 2023 adding programming for the Somali community, and recently Fishes n' Apples was awarded $25,000 in state grant support.

Adan said drawing students and families from similar cultures or neighborhoods together helps strengthen the community bonds and overcome barriers.

"Parents are now babysitting for each other, they are working together, they are going to the parks together," Adan said. "It became a friendship that supports each other."

Nimo Farah, the mother of two current participants, agreed, pointing out parents have helped with transportation and other needs during the four-week session.

"We support each other," she said of the program she said provides important lessons for the 8- to 12-year-old participants.

Like the relationships between families, said she's also seeing the student's skills grow.

"Our kids have come a long way from week one to week three," she said.

Through eight classes, Cruz said students learn the skills and confidence needed to jump into the deep end of the pool, pull themselves to the surface and safely swim to the pool's edge.

With each lesson followed by a nutrition lesson and healthy snack, Adan said she's been surprised by the young swimmers' willingness to learn, even after spending an hour in the water.

"The kids are also excited for the nutrition part," she said, pointing to questions building from one lesson to the next.

She said she's also hearing from parents that the lessons make it into their homes, with young family members requesting healthy meals and snacks.

"It's a ripple effect, so it's interesting," she said.

Organizers hope another ripple effect will be seen with the Fishes n' Apples program planning to train lifeguards this summer. They are hoping to draw from older siblings of past participants, as well as others from the communities being served.

Cruz said the training will help fill a growing need for lifeguards, but Nunez Garcia said it will also give younger swimmers role models.

"I think it's important that kids at public pools see a Hispanic lifeguard, a Somali lifeguard or lifeguards from different cultures," she said.

Organizers said the goal is to keep building the program as a community service.

"We want to make sure everyone has the experience," Cruz said.