REDMOND – Swimming can be scary for 8-year-old Shelby Bergum. The Terrebonne Elementary School student said she once went underwater in a lake and couldn’t find her way to the surface.

But near the end of her third-grade class’s second swim lesson at Redmond’s Cascade Aquatic Club Tuesday morning, Bergum began to regain her confidence.

With a little help from instructor Noreen Sheets, Bergum let go of the pool wall and floated on her back in the water.

”Flutter your legs,” Sheets said gently, supporting Bergum’s body through the exercise. ”Nice and relaxed … Perfect.”

For third-grade students in the Redmond School District, Powell Butte Elementary School in Crook County and Black Butte Elementary School in Camp Sherman, learning to swim is part of the curriculum.

Every school year, third-grade classes receive two weeks of daily, two-hour swim lessons at the Cascade Aquatic Club. The classes are funded by St. Charles Medical Center-Redmond, and are taught by certified water-safety instructors.

The free swim lessons may be the only opportunity for some students to learn basic water skills that could prevent an accidental drowning, said instructors.

”We do it to promote safety for children,” said Bill Pair, assistant pool director for the Central Oregon Park and Recreation District (COPRD). ”We don’t want children in this community growing up without swimming lessons.”

At Terrebonne Elementary School, the swim lessons are paired with a social studies unit on community, said third-grade teacher Cathy Cron. Before or after swim lessons, students visit important community landmarks, such as the Redmond Fire Department, the Redmond Air Center and the city’s Public Works Department.

When classes began last week, students were assessed as beginning, intermediate or advanced swimmers. Instructors set different goals for each level, Pair said.

One goal for beginners is to swim 25 meters, or the length of the pool, Pair said. More advanced students may tread water for five minutes, or swim for 10 minutes, he said.

”The most important goal, however, is to get students comfortable with the water,” said swim instructor Josh Reznicsek.

”You kind of have to help them lose their fears,” Reznicsek said.

For some, getting over those fears and trying something new can be a powerful experience.

”I finally learned to swim on my back and float on my stomach,” said Coleten Bradley, 9, of Crooked River Ranch. ”I decided that I was just going to try as hard as I could to see if I could do it, and I accomplished it. I felt really good that I actually did it,” he said.

Jeannie Kroske, 8, from Terrebonne, said she didn’t know she could dive from a standing position until Tuesday. Lane Sandelin, 8, also of Terrebonne, said he learned how to spin in the water and make a whirlpool. Kord Strickland, 9, of Crooked River Ranch, said he learned how to swim underwater.

On Tuesday, Cron snapped photos with her digital camera as her students learned skills such as pushing off the wall and gliding through the water or doing ”pencil” dives – bodies rigid and hands at their sides – into the pool.

Swim lessons allow her students to see that people are good at different things, Cron said. Some students who excel in the classroom may be timid swimmers, while those who struggle academically may be more confident in the water.

According to Pair, many students who start swimming in the third-grade class get hooked and go on to join community swim teams.

Andrew Sours, 8, of Crooked River Ranch, said he was surprised by how good it felt to swim. ”It makes your body feel good when the water touches you,” he said. ”It feels like Jell-O.”