The Center for Black Cultural and Student Affairs, Black Student Assembly and National Pan-Hellenic Council partnered with Blue Dreams Swim School at the indoor pool of the Physical Education Building Tuesday for a free clinic to help new swimmers learn the basics.

The event began with a briefing and short Q&A, where Terrelle Lue, CEO and owner of Blue Dreams Swim School, oriented attendees. The goal of the hour-and-a-half session was to get every swimmer capable of swimming 10 unassisted yards by the end.

Lue said a goal of the clinic was to give first-time swimmers a grasp on the basics, particularly before spring break.

“I believe everybody should know how to [swim],” Lue said. “It is a life skill, and personally, in business, I just want to put out as much quality and value as possible.”

Lue opened the swim school six months ago, citing his experience of seeing new swimmers progress quickly as inspiration to provide quality swim lessons. After volunteering in New York City and Hawai’i, Lue now aims to help those in Los Angeles by offering more clinics in the city.

As the music rang out, attendees came back from the locker rooms, ready to swim. They began in the shallow end, going over form, breathing and strokes while using aids like kickboards.

Jaden Reis, a cultural ambassador at CBCSA and a sophomore majoring in computational linguistics, attended the event as both an organizer and a participant. He said CBCSA’s goal was to encourage students to learn an “essential life skill.”

“I just want students to know that there’s a place for them,” Reis said. “There’s a place that cares about the concerns and issues in our community and tries to address them. I feel like this is a good step towards that.”

JaNarie Rhambo, a swim coach who works with Lue at Blue Dreams Swim School, said she wanted people to be able to go through life without either overestimating their ability to swim or fearing the water altogether.

“I’ve had family members who don’t know how to swim; I’ve had family members I’ve had to save,” Rhambo said. “I’ve actually performed CPR once in my life; it was on my own cousin.”

After only half an hour, the students went from standing in the pool to swimming in it. Swimmers like Reis were more confident and more comfortable, and before long, they were swimming the pool’s length, surpassing the goal of 10 yards and reaching the full 25.

Tiana Jackson, also a swim instructor, addressed the cultural significance of the event, saying that while they accept everyone at the school, they also emphasize breaking stereotypes.

“We are here to teach everyone,” Jackson said. “We want to overcome that stereotype that Black and brown people can’t swim. There’s so many people [who] have told me that they can’t, and they just never tried, because they’ve had this cloud over them that’s prevented them from trying.”

That sentiment was echoed by Tinsae Yimer, a cultural ambassador for CBCSA and junior majoring in communication.

“I know that in the Black community, swimming is an activity that we really don’t partake in because of the historical context that comes with it,” Yimer said. “[People] have pool parties and everything, but nobody goes in the pool, so I think it’s a great idea for us to just enjoy the water, because it’s a beautiful thing.”

As the hour-and-a-half came to a close, swimmers took a dive into the deep end, grazing the floor before surfacing. Ascending the pool ladder, they wrapped themselves in towels and braced against the chilly air. Reis said he felt more confident after the clinic.

“I felt like they made it a laid-back experience,” Reis said. “They really honed in on the things that we needed to work on. So nothing was confusing, and it was just altogether a vibe.”

Isabelle Young, a doctoral student studying neuroscience, had only been swimming on occasion in her home state of Washington. When she saw the clinic, she figured it was a good opportunity to exercise.

“It was really fun,” Young said. “I was a little shaky at first, but both of the teachers were really nice, and they really adapted to what I was good at and what I wasn’t. So it was really structured and really comfortable.”