A new club as of the Spring 2020 semester is the Rock Climbing Club. This club was founded by Max Silverman, freshman communication major, and David Tilton, freshman special ed and elementary education major, during the fall semester.
It started when Silverman and his parents were looking at colleges and the clubs they offered on campus during his senior year of high school. Silverman believed that the university was offering a rock climbing club and decided that he wanted to study here. Though once Silverman got to campus, he found out that there was no rock climbing club and then decided to start up the club himself.
“I then decided that I had nothing to lose and started the club,” Silverman said. “I put some posters around some of the dorms and buildings, and I got a few interested, one being from Tilton, who helped me start the club, and then I found out about Rachel. The three of us have worked to start the club.”
Tilton and Rachel Hetrick, freshman graphic design major, met while working as lifeguards at Dixon Center. Hetrick had mentioned to Tilton that she had gotten into rock climbing during the summer, and Tilton informed her that he and Silverman were starting a rock climbing club.
Since then, all three members have started connecting with other people who might be interested, and they also got an adviser, Orlin Jespersen, associate director of athletics, recreation and community engagement. During the Involvement Fair for the Spring 2020 semester, they were able to get a table and even got 70 signatures of people who were interested.
“Right now, the direction of the club is just to keep things simple, you know just climb what we feel comfortable with and really get people interested in it,” Tilton said. “Our future goal is to get more serious with it; maybe even do outdoor climbing and do it weekly.”
Rock climbing is a good and unique way to exercise while also meeting new people. Rock climbing is a great environment and full of people who want to help even when you might not think you can make it to the next hole. It’s a club where you can see if you are interested in rock climbing. If not, then one can say they at least tried something new.
“If you do it once and don’t like it, that’s fine we just want to find the people who are really into it and want to be involved, so that we can grow and have a good group of people that really love it,” Hetrick said.
As of right now, the club meets the first and third Fridays of every month at Gravity Vault from 7:00 p.m to 9:30 p.m. Silverman, Tilton and Hetrick are certified to work the ropes and will help if anyone needs help. The equipment and transportation will be provided for students. Students need to pay the $8 fee and sign up by noon on the first and third Thursday at the Dixon Center’s front desk.
For more information please contact Orlin Jespersen at ojj@cabrini.edu, Max at ms4797@cabrini.edu, David at dctilton13@icloud.com and Rachel at rh10447@cabrini.edu.
