Meet The Team

RJ Meade

Owner

RJ Meade

Owner

Richard (RJ) Meade is the owner of the Goldfish Swim School in Omaha, Nebraska, the first Goldfish Swim School in the state! Originally from Northfield, Illinois – a suburb of Chicago – RJ attended Loyola University, focusing on political science and sociology. After graduation, RJ became a Certified Public Accountant, managing risk on the US Government debt at the Chicago Board of Trade. He also became a licensed real estate agent and investor. It was after a terrifying first-hand experience that involved his child in a hotel pool and his wife doing a fully-clothed water rescue, followed by little success with the swim lesson options available to his family, that RJ started looking into investing into his own swim school. The life skill of water safety had become a major focus for RJ and his family, and he was thrilled when a Goldfish Swim School opened in his neighborhood. The tried-and-true play-based curriculum, the confidence building culture, and the warm and inviting facility made it clear to RJ that Goldfish was the perfect fit for his swim school investment. With the help and mentorship of a colleague of his that had also opened a Goldfish Swim School, RJ chose to bring the Golden Experience to the people of Omaha, Nebraska. RJ and wife wife Michelle have two sons – Nate and Evan, and a daughter named Jane, who are all major Chicago Cubs fans. RJ also has a passion for coaching children’s sports – baseball, soccer, basketball – so it’s a natural fit for him to move into coaching and teaching swimming as well!
Christian Gaylord

General Manager

Christian Gaylord

General Manager

Mr. Christian has been with Goldfish since July of 2023. He is West Omaha’s new General Manager and is excited to get to know all of the wonderful people here. His favorite level to teach is Glider 2 because the swimmers are starting to put their skills together and become more efficient in the water. A fun fact about Mr. Christian is he played football at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for 6 years.
Chris Exstrom

Assistant General Manager

Chris Exstrom

Assistant General Manager

Mr. Chris has been with Goldfish for 2 years and loves seeing swimmers gain and grow confidence through each lesson. His favorite level to teach is Junior 2 or Junior 3 because this is when it feels like the 3 and 4 year olds really learn how to swim and the smiles on their faces when they swim 10 feet is amazing. A fun fact about Mr. Chris is when he was 12-years-old he backpacked and canoed the boundary waters between the US and Canada for 2 weeks with my Mom.
Bella Hershey

Deck Supervisor

Bella Hershey

Deck Supervisor

Miss. Bella has been with Goldfish for 2 years and loves watching kids she has known for a while make progress in lessons! Her favorite levels to teach are minis and juniors because the kids are full of energy. A fun fact about Miss. Bella is she has lived in 3 different countries.
Haley Geringer

Deck Supervisor

Haley Geringer

Deck Supervisor

Miss. Haley has been with Goldfish for almost 3 years now and loves the loving, family like work environment. Her favorite level to teach Pro 2 because they are the kids learning more butterfly and breaststroke and getting ready for swimforce. A fun fact about Miss. Haley is that she is going to school so she can work in NIL and social media.
Noah Kruse

Deck Supervisor

Noah Kruse

Deck Supervisor

Mr. Noah has been with Goldfish for a little over a year now and loves teaching all of his kiddos. His favorite level to teach is Pro 2 because they are independent and he is a swimmer himself so it’s very fun. A fun fact about Mr. Noah is that he is an artist.
Emma Heaton

Deck Supervisor

Emma Heaton

Deck Supervisor

Miss. Emma has been with Goldfish for 6 months and loves having a kid that you have been teaching move up a class. Her favorite level to teach is Pro 2 because of the different strokes and drills she gets to teach. A fun fact about Miss. Emma is she loves to read classic books.
Maisy Sachs

Deck Supervisor

Maisy Sachs

Deck Supervisor

Miss. Maisy has been with Goldfish for almost 2 years now and loves all of the kids and the empowering environment. Her favorite level to teach is juniors because they are all super sweet and they love to talk. A fun fact about Miss. Maisy is she has 4 brothers, 2 older, 2 younger.
Sam Fee

Deck Supervisor

Sam Fee

Deck Supervisor

Miss Sam has been with Goldfish for almost a year now and loves seeing the kids grow up during their journey with swim lessons. Her favorite level to teach is Mini 1 and Mini 1 because it’s fun watching the babies get comfortable in the water. A fun fact about Miss. Sam is she loves all types of art and I do scenic painting work for the Omaha Community Playhouse Theater.
Cece Sandquist

Swim Instructor/Lifeguard

Cece Sandquist

Swim Instructor/Lifeguard

Miss CeCe has been with Goldfish for 2 months and loves being able to also learn how to swim alongside the kids. Her favorite level to teach is juniors because she likes teaching them some of the basics like kicking and pulling and superman glide. A fun fact about Miss. CeCe is loves listening to music especially, Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande!
Zoe Welch

Swim Instructor/Lifeguard

Zoe Welch

Swim Instructor/Lifeguard

Miss. Zoe has been with Goldfish for 7 months now and loves getting to see all the kids improve and getting to be so much stronger swimmers. Her favorite levels are Mini 3 or juniors because they are usually always so excited to be there and are so fun to work with. A fun fact about Miss. Zoe is that she was born legally blind and had a few surgery’s and am almost at 20/20 vision now.
Makayla Hall

Swim Instructor/Lifeguard

Makayla Hall

Swim Instructor/Lifeguard

Miss. Makayla has been with Goldfish for 9 months now and loves seeing how excited some of the kids get when it is their turn to get in the pool. Her favorite level to teach is juniors because she loves the smaller kids and home eager they are to learn. A fun fact about Miss. Makayla is she has a black cat named Nova.
Ruby Beeler-Streff

Swim Instructor

Ruby Beeler-Streff

Swim Instructor

Miss. Ruby has been with Goldfish for 2 months now and loves watching kids grow and how excited kids get to show when they show their parents new skills. Her favorite level to teach is juniors because they are very cute and just so fun to have in class. A fun fact about Miss. Ruby is that she forensics, which is competitively speaking on a team at my school.
Antonia Carey

Swim Instructor

Antonia Carey

Swim Instructor

Miss. Antonia has been with Goldfish for 2 months now and loves The community. From the instructors to the students to the management and the families. It is such a positive and healthy place to be. Her favorite level to teach is juniors, because they are silly and are always smiling and laughing. A fun fact about Miss. Antonia is that she is on the varsity bowling team at her school.
Tayla Carlson

Swim Instructor

Tayla Carlson

Swim Instructor

Miss. Tayla has been with Goldfish for about a month now and loves how cute and unpredictable the little kids are. Her favorite level is mini 3 because she likes watching them get comfortable in the water, and they’re all so cute and fun to teach. A fun fact about Miss. Tayla is she dances competitively.
Marisa Powell

Swim Instructor

Marisa Powell

Swim Instructor

Miss. Marisa has been with Goldfish for about a month now and loves seeing the kids be proud of themselves at the end of lessons. Her favorite level to teach is Mini 1-2 because she loves seeing the kids learn something and the parents get to be a part of that. A fun fact about Miss. Marisa is she competitively swam for 4 years.
Logan Geringer

Swim Instructor

Logan Geringer

Swim Instructor

Mr. Logan has been with Goldfish for a month and loves the random tropical music that plays during lessons. His favorite level to teach is Junior 1 because the kids get to be a little bit more independent while building up their confidence. A fun fact about Mr. Logan is that he loves learning random history facts.
Ella Carter

Front Desk Representative

Ella Carter

Front Desk Representative

Miss. Ella has been with Goldfish Swim School since September of 2023. She loves the fun, friendly environment of Goldfish and getting to know the families that swim with us! Fun fact about Ella is that she aspires to be a pediatrics nurse and loves country music!