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BORDENTOWN: Swim program celebrates 50 years of learning, fun

By Amy Batista, Special Writer
   The Bordentown Swimming Program has just celebrated its 50th anniversary season.
   ”No other community has a program quite like this one,” Sandy Ewell of Bordentown, Community District Alliance (CDA) director said in an email.
   ”Dr. Fisher and her team of seasoned and committed instructors provided over the years instructive swim lessons to young (and some not so young) swimmers at every level provided by the Red Cross,” Ms. Ewell said.
   ”In addition, she has trained hundreds of lifeguards, water safety instructors and certified 20 times that number in CPR and first aid,” Ms. Ewell said.
   The program began in 1962 and was sponsored by the Bordentown School Board and the Lion’s Club, but today the program is sponsored by the Bordentown Community District Alliance (CDA), according to Shirley Fisher, the program’s director.
   Ms. Fisher started the program in 1962 with her husband, Charles, and has spent the last 29 of the 50 years serving as its director.
   ”I knew that Bordentown had a great need for a swimming program because of the Delaware River and the Jersey shore,” Ms. Fisher said in an email this week. “My husband and I approached Mr. George Dare,the superintendent of the Bordentown schools, and explained how we could teach a swimming program using apartment or motel pools.”
   The program uses local apartment and motel pools to conduct swimming lessons to parents and children. They teach levels 1-6, Water Safety Today and Red Cross Lifeguarding.
   ”We thank all the merchants in Bordentown who have allowed us to use their pools,” Ms. Fisher said.
   ”What a wonderful community service (they) have given the Bordentown community. The last 15 years we have been using the Southgate/Rydal Apartments Pool and the Park and Point Breeze Apartment Pools,” Ms. Fisher said.
   ”The unique factor is that Bordentown has no community pool and has found it possible to keep this type of program running for 50 consecutive years,” she said.
   ”The major goal of the program is for all children to learn to swim with proper mechanics and to learn water safety skill so they can always be safe around water,” Ms. Fisher said. “We like the children to complete all levels and take the lifeguarding class.”
   This year the classes were held at the Southgate Rydel Apartment Pool and had an enrollment of 260 children.
   Program staff includes four Red Cross water safety instructors, Ms. Fisher, Lisa Brown, Christie Knox and Amanda Smith. All the instructors are New Jersey certified teachers at local colleges or schools in the area.
   The program has four lifeguards on deck and this year had five volunteer assistants. Lifeguards include Elizabeth Dalton, Joseph Knox, Allyson Potts and Christopher Sciarrotta. Volunteer assistants include Andrew Castagna, Christiana Dalton, Morgan Mount, Julia Tarpley and Kaitlin Valeri, according to Ms. Fisher.
   ”Six of the seven staff members and all of the volunteer assistants learned to swim in this program,” Ms. Fisher said.
   ”I have an awesome staff to work with the children,” Ms. Fisher said. “The lifeguards maintain a very safe pool to learn to swim. The five volunteers this summer were great and they made it possible to give individual attention for children learning to swim.”
   Bordentown CDA conducts a camp at the Peter Muschal School where interested children are bused to the pool for swimming lessons. This year 98 children were provided with swim lessons during their camp experience.
   The CDA Red Cross Children’s Swim Program begins the last week in June (following the end of the school year) and ran through July 27, this year. Each student receives lessons twice a week and at least one Friday for make-up lessons.
   ”An afternoon for swimming races is a highlight of the program during the last week. All children participating receive a ribbon,” Ms. Fisher said.
   Ms. Ewell noted that one parent wrote to her: “Dr. Fisher and her instructors offer lessons of the highest quality resulting not only for the well-trained swimmer but for children who just love the water.”
   ”Parents are particularly mindful of the number of water ways in and around Bordentown and how important it is that their child is a swimmer that has complete respect for the water and life saving swimming skill,” Ms. Ewell said.
   The American Red Cross Swimming & Water Safety Program features six levels of swim instruction. Aquatic and safety skills are taught in a logical progression and students are grouped according to their skill level.
   ”About 90 percent of the children passed their level of Red Cross Swimming and will move to the next level in 2013,” Ms. Fisher said.
   ”The typical passing rate is 80 to 90 percent. Sometimes the children do not attend enough of the classes and it is difficult for children to pass if they do not have a place to practice. Children have to pass a Red Cross Skills Test for each level,” Ms. Fisher said. “Last summer, a most impressive 80 percent of instructional swim students passed to the next level. What is not captured in the statistics is the community social time that is experienced by parents, grandparents, neighbors and friends who gather at the pool for their child’s lesson. It is something that sets the CDA Swim Program apart from other swim programs,” Ms. Ewell said.
   ”It is, without a doubt, a valuable piece of what Dr. Fisher has created over the past 50 years,” Ms. Ewell said.
   Ms. Fisher reflected on what stands out during her years of doing this and recalls people telling her “that swimming lessons saved a life.” She is an avid swimmer and tries to swim at least at ½ mile six days a week.
   ”My favorite memory is seeing the joy of children when they learn to be safe in deep water,” Ms. Fisher said.
   The cost for the program for residents is $75 while non-residents pay $85. For more information on the Community District Alliance and its programs, visit www.bordentown.k12.nj.us/departments.cfm?subpage=231142.