Newport-Mesa Unified after-school swim and water-safety program encourages future lifeguards and athletes

Rosa Pineda never learned how to swim, and that’s something she has always been self-conscious about. It’s a fact she hid from her friends, even as they teasingly encouraged her to jump into a pool with them at a party she attended in her youth.

“I was too embarrassed to share with them that I didn’t know how to swim,” Pineda, a Spanish speaker, told the Daily Pilot Thursday, as interpreted by Whittier Elementary School Community Facilitator Arely Martin. “Eventually, at some point they pushed me into the pool. And it wasn’t until they saw that I was sinking that they realized I didn’t know how to swim.”

That traumatic experience reinforced the Costa Mesa resident’s fear of drowning. And like the parents of many other Whittier students who emigrated from Mexico, Pineda grew up in a community where private and public pools were uncommon, so there weren’t many opportunities to take swimming classes, she explained.

Years later, Pineda started a family in coastal Orange County and eventually saw an interest in aquatics stir in her 9-year-old son, Anthony Pineda. It wasn’t long before she realized she wouldn’t be able to help him if he ever got into trouble in the deep end.

Her son attends Whitter and is one of many young children in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District who have hardly ever stepped into a swimming pool or the ocean despite living within a short drive to the beach, according to Christy Flores, the district’s director of engagement, partnership and expanded learning. That’s why NMUSD started a pilot program to teach kids how to stay safe in the water and potentially save others in an emergency.

“I have heard countless kids share how not knowing how to swim has impacted their confidence and ability to fit in on campuses a mile from the beach,” NMUSD Board of Education Trustee Ashley Anderson said in a statement. “As a former swim instructor and lifeguard at Halecrest, the only student I ever needed to jump in the pool and save was an NMUSD sixth-grader who had come over for an end-of-school-year event.”

Anthony Pineda was among 45 Whittier Elementary students in grades two through five who filled every slot for the new after-school swim and water-safety classes just days after they were announced to families, Flores said. Many others have been added to a waiting list.

The program was wrapping up its second week of instruction Friday. And given the amount of interest shown this early in the pilot, district officials were already considering starting similar after-school classes at other campuses, NMUSD spokeswoman Annette Franco said.

Whittier students in the program meet twice a week for eight weeks. Classes are held at the YMCA of Orange County’s center on University Drive and taught by the facility’s instructors. The curriculum opens with basic swim lessons and eventually covers an introduction to lifesaving techniques.

“He’s learning what I cannot teach him,” Pineda told the Daily Pilot via Martin. “I feel very confident with how the school will take care of him. I feel confident allowing him to leave the school to go to these swim classes. I trust everything will be OK.”

Students who show exceptional talent in the water will be encouraged to explore further opportunities. Whittier is partnering with the Newport Harbor High School swim and water polo programs to identify budding athletes taking part in the program. And the Ben Carlson Foundation has offered to cover fees for those who show the potential to pass the Newport Beach Junior Lifeguard test.

“I feel very proud, especially proud because he was the one most motivated to join the swim club,” Pineda said of her son. “And he specified that his main motivation was being able to save other students.”

A YMCA instructor high-fives a Whittier Elementary student during a swim lesson. The Newport-Mesa Unified School District is testing a pilot for an after-school swim and water-safety program.

(courtesy of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District)