Fordham Prep alum and parent successfully swims the English Channel

This spring, Jake Dolce, a member of Fordham Prep’s Class of 1991 and father to Fordham Prep graduates from the Classes of 2023 and 2025, spoke to Prep sophomores during one of their weekly Mentoring periods. The topic: his monumental accomplishment of swimming the English Channel. Mentoring periods at Fordham Prep take place regularly during each six-day academic cycle and offer academic and social support from teachers, opportunities for grade-level bonding, smaller conversations with homeroom-sized groups of students and, at times, presentations such as Dolce’s.

In his talk, titled “Crossing Life’s Channels,” Dolce emphasized some of the Ignatian themes that guide Fordham Prep, including Magis, roughly translated to “more,” challenging the second-year students to ask themselves, “Can you give more?” After addressing the sophomores, Dolce returned to the Prep for a conversation that formed the basis of this article. It provides a glimpse into the story of one alumnus who is actively inspiring a new generation of Fordham Prep students while trying to make the world a slightly better place.

Dolce has always loved the water. He credits his parents as his first swim coaches, describing how they established a family culture that emphasized comfort and confidence around the water. “Growing up – pools, lakes, oceans, rivers, any type of body of water – I was constantly in it from a super young age,” Dolce shared. “So I learned to really respect the water.” Although he briefly joined a beach club swim team as a child, he admitted, “I never swam competitively in high school. The Fordham Prep swim team was really good – they’re still really good.”

While the Dolce family has always loved the water, Dolce did not consider making the jump to charity distance swims until family tragedy struck. “We got involved with Swim Across America when my dad was fighting brain cancer,” he said. “He died at a young age of 53 in ‘96.”

After helping to raise money for cancer research through shorter swims around Westchester County, Jake and his brother Jared Dolce FP’90 embarked on a swim across the Long Island Sound. The swim, which they first did while their father was alive, provided a foundation for swimming for a family tradition of “swimming for a cause.”  “I did the three-mile for a couple of years and raised a ton of money,” Dolce recalled. “People were so generous and supportive since my dad had long since passed. But then I was always like, ‘How could I do more?’ What would that six-mile swim be like?”

During those grueling three hours completing the six-mile swim, his focus shifted from physical endurance to something deeper. “It’s kind of a spiritual experience,” he explained. “You are in the water, you're kind of at peace, you've got prayer, you've got your dad's spirit above, you’ve got others who have either lost their lives to cancer or are fighting cancer.”

Eventually, Dolce set his sights even higher: longer swims, greater fundraising and a broader impact. “I started asking myself, ‘How can I use swimming to give back, make an impact for others, but also grow myself?’”  That question led him to the 20 Bridges Swim, a nearly 30-mile-long circumnavigation of Manhattan. While Dolce initially hoped to raise funds for a Fordham Prep scholarship in memory of a classmate killed on 9/11, a rule from the Open Water Swimming Association prevented that. Still wanting to reference his alma mater, Dolce instead chose to raise money for POTS (Part of the Solution), a Bronx-based community support center where many Fordham Prep seniors complete their 70-hour service requirement. Ahead of the 20 Bridges swim, he raised an incredible $25,000 for POTS in just a few weeks.

Another personal loss served as inspiration for his next challenge: the English Channel.

“My brother Hank died on February 2nd, 2022. He was 52. And I was 51 at the time,” Dolce said. “I thought life is short. You’ve got to go for big things. It doesn't necessarily have to mean swimming the English Channel, but like anything in life, set a goal and go for it.” Dolce certainly did go for it. He signed up for the English Channel swim in January 2023 and received a scheduling window to attempt it between June 11 and 20, 2024.

Training was intense: he swam over 55,000 yards per week at the peak of his training. His weekend sessions often lasted four to eight hours, not only to build muscular and aerobic strength, but also to refine his feeding plan. “You're testing your body, but you're also rehearsing your nutrition: dosage, frequency. Are you getting an upset stomach? Did Tylenol help? Did Rolaids help?” he explained.

Dolce describes the effort as anything but solitary. “It’s really a team sport,” he said, expressing deep gratitude for friends and family who swam alongside him and supported him physically and mentally.

He also had to acclimate to the cold water, as wetsuits are prohibited in marathon swimming. A group of friends, calling themselves the “Ice Krakens,” joined him in braving frigid conditions.

When it came time for the actual Channel crossing, Dolce was accompanied by the father and son duo, Fred and Harry Mardle, and their boat, The Masterpiece, along with a support team that included two of his brothers and one of his sons.

On the day of the swim, he prepared himself physically and spiritually: coating himself in a thick layer of greasy lanolin to protect against the cold and the multitude of stinging jellyfish and carrying a set of rosary beads tucked into a special pocket of his bathing suit. When fatigue set in, Dolce turned to his rosary, praying Hail Marys and letting his mind meditatively wander. After hours of grueling endurance, he reached the coast of France, coincidentally, almost exactly 80 years after the invasion of Normandy.

Looking back, Dolce attributes his success to what he calls his “magic combination” of faith, family and friends. Jake Dolce’s determination to challenge himself, serve others and live with purpose exemplifies the kind of graduate Fordham Prep strives to form: a person who is open to growth, intellectually accomplished, willing to grow in their religion, loving, committed to justice and dedicated to wellness of mind and body.