DePauw desperately needs a rock climbing facility for not only DePauw, but also the Greencastle community.
I fell in love with the sport over the countless summers I spent growing up in the hills of Brown County, Ind. at Camp Palawopec. It is the best stress reliever I have been able to find.
The first thing I do when I return to Zionsville from DePauw for breaks (after a quick catch-up with my parents) is drive directly to Hoosier Heights Indianapolis. Hoosier Heights is a world-class rock climbing gym located five minutes from my house.
Climbing as a sport is different from just about any sport out there. Everything is based on personal improvement. I have never felt like I am competing against the people I climb with. Instead, the people I climb with help me in tricky problem spots or push me through my exhaustion to complete a lead route.
The climbing community, by definition, is friendly to a fault. The number of long-time friends I have made from simply asking a stranger at the gym if they want to climb with me for the day is astounding. No one will give a beginner a cold-shoulder because they think it is a waste of their time. Climbers love climbing more than anything and want to pass that love onto others.
You may wonder why DePauw needs to embrace climbing as a student activity.
It is no secret that the "town-gown" relations can be strained at times. If the University were to open a climbing facility that would be open to anyone interested in being exposed to the sport, DePauw students would inevitably end up meeting and befriending Greencastle residents. The welcoming nature of the sport of climbing would help all participants involved view other climbers as peers, not as snobby DePauw students or "townies." This would be a huge step for improving our relationship with the people who live in Greencastle.
More importantly, climbing is a great total-body workout. Climbing is consistently rated as one of the best ways to work out your entire body. The sport requires more than upper-body strength, some climbers even claim too much arm strength can be detrimental. To be a good climber, you need to strengthen muscles you never thought you had.
Can you imagine actively working out your finger? Climbers consistently do. Other fitness improvements you'll notice once you commit to climbing are increases in flexibility, core-strength, and balance. Each of these could be considered more important to a climber than pure arm strength.
A gym on our campus here at DePauw would help students diversify their workout schedules. Climbing is a fun, physically exhausting activity that can be enjoyed by climbers of all experience levels. The gym would also create a bridge for students and locals to build relationships as peers, creating an in-group mentality rather than the segregated one that seems to cause any strained relations.
DePauw has nothing to lose by investing in a sport that is rapidly gaining popularity. I want a gym because I would practically live in it, but I would not be the only one who would get a lot of it.
--Small is a senior from Zionsville, Ind. double majoring in history and political science.