LEAP’s Pool To Open This Summer, Too

A privately owned pool will be open for free public access on Friday evenings — and for low-cost swim lessons throughout the summer — thanks to a youth athletics and tutoring nonprofit’s commitment to keeping the community in the water.

LEAP (Leadership, Education and Athletics in Partnership, Inc.) Aquatics Director Oscar Rodriguez confirmed that paid swim lessons and free weekly open swim will kick off July 1 at LEAP’s 31 Jefferson St. headquarters.

The expected LEAP swimming programming comes as New Haven Public Schools has reported that only one of the district’s five school pools will be open to the public this summer due to ongoing needed maintenance work. That sole public pool, at Hillhouse High School, will be available for open swim from June 24 to Aug. 2, on Mondays through Fridays from 5 to 7 p.m., and on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

LEAP’s pool on Jefferson Street, meanwhile, will be available for free public open swim only on Fridays, from 5:45 p.m. to 8 p.m., starting next week.

Rodriguez also told this reporter that LEAP will offer adult, youth, and baby and caregiver swimming lessons this summer. The five-week swim lessons totaling to 10 classes will cost $80 per child and $100 per adult. Five baby and caregiver swim lessons will cost $45. This is new to LEAP’s swim offerings, as lessons are typically offered to youth ages 5 and up.

Rodriguez, who stepped into his role in October, said he received an increase in requests from the community for adult swim programming.

The Jefferson Street pool as of Wednesday was drained and being fixed up, but LEAP expects it to be open by July 1.

Rodriguez hopes to add more opportunities for swim practice earlier in the afternoon to help the community combat expected intense mid-day heat waves, he said.

Rodriguez concluded that he hopes for the open swim schedule to allow youth to grow more interested in the sport of swimming. For those that do, he plans to point them in the direction of local swim teams that can open up careers and scholarship opportunities to youth who otherwise may not typically have access to free swimming.

This reporter also got a look at LEAP’s free summer programming for 7- to 12-year-olds focused on academics and skill enrichment. Programming will run from June 24 through August 2 and still has slots available at all sites except Troup and Lincoln-Bassett.

Available sites include Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School, Family Academy of Multilingual Exploration (FAME), King-Robinson Inter-District Magnet School, the LEAP Office on 31 Jefferson St., and Ross Woodward School.

The summer programming runs Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m until 4 p.m, and on Fridays from 8 a.m until 1 p.m.

While visiting LEAP classes at Ross Woodward Wednesday, a 9- to 10-year-old girls group played multiplication bingo, filling their cards with the answers to questions like 9 x 10 or 4 x 11.

In another room of 9- to 10-year-old boys, the group played a multiplication race in four teams, answering addition, division, and multiplication problems in seconds. At around 9:50 a.m., two teams tied at 11 points for the final game and so played a final round to determine the winners.

As problems appeared on the smart board, the groups huddled up to come up with their answer and called it out. The first to give the correct answer got the final points.

Seven problems later, Team 4 came out on top.

LEAP Director of Programs Nikilia Reid said that this year LEAP received a two-year grant to onboard mental health workers at all of its sites. Additionally, 60 of LEAP’s Leaders in Training teenagers will take a week-long trip to Maine. Field trips, mentorship, and programming in phonics, dance, and tennis will be offered to students throughout the summer.

LEAP Deputy Director of Programs Da’Jah Bradshaw said this summer’s mental health workers will help teach youth about normalizing mental health services, seeking help, and building self-regulation skills.

“It gives the kids the language to now know what to look for,” Reid added.

The students’ first field trip this summer will be to the Peabody Museum. The summer will also include camping, community service, and free breakfast and lunch. Reid added that the summer programming is geared toward allowing kids to go more places and learn about both their city and beyond.

When asked how the start of programing has been thus far, Jackson said energy has been high from students and families regarding everything from academics to athletics. Bradshaw said she’s felt camaraderie between youth and their mentors, and Reid said attendance has been off to a great start and parents are committed to getting their youth to programs every day.

LEAP Director of Children’s Program Chance Jackson once attended LEAP as a summer student when he was around 7 years old. Now 33 years old, Jackson recently returned to help give students the same sense of safety and busyness LEAP provided him as a child for four years.

Though he recalled preferring to be less busy in the summers, LEAP instead offered him with opportunities for new skills and relationships.

“It propelled me to have this new type of thinking toward summer programming,” he said. ​“As a kid I wanted to get out of school and have no programs, but LEAP afforded me opportunities to keep my mind busy during the summer, which helped me when I transitioned back to school.”

Jackson’s experience as a child inspired him to continue to be a counselor in summer programs while in high school and at the University of Connecticut.

“I walked in their shoes, and I want to open doors for them, too,” he said.