Rock-climbing event raises funds for exercise science program
About 25 students gathered in Finch Fieldhouse, Wednesday for a rock-climbing fundraiser.
The fundraiser was for the Take 10 program, a health initiative graduate students in Central Michigan University’s exercise science program are hosting.
The fundraiser’s goal was to raise money to purchase bottled water and prizes to provide at the Take 10 event planned for April.
Gabby Bellissimo, a third year exercise physiology graduate student and one of the founders of Take 10, said she realizes there is need for a healthier campus community.
“Graduate students are passionate about getting people to move and become active,” Bellissimo said.
Still in its planning phase, Take 10 is hoped to occur at the end of April in the Student Activity Center. The program will allow participants to exercise for 10 minutes, and learn the importance of physical activity in their lives.
The event will take place most of the day, and about every 30 minutes a new exercise will be demonstrated for participants to try.
Climbers at the fundraiser were provided shoes, harnesses and a quick safety lesson if it was their first time climbing. Chris Eggleston, a physical therapy graduate student at CMU, had only climbed once before the fundraiser.
“It is frightening the first couple times up the wall, but when you are done, you are glad you did it,” he said.
Jenna Sessions, a second-year exercise science graduate student, is also a co-founder of the “Take 10” event. Sessions, like many of the other students in attendance, participated in the rock climbing course that CMU offers, and said it was something she loved to do and would pursue.
“It makes me happy to share something I like to do with other people and that they may learn to enjoy as well,” Sessions said.
Volunteers were also on hand to anchor the safety ropes for new climbers and provide what lessons they had learned through their rock climbing experiences.
“I like effecting positive change in people’s bodies and minds,” said CMU senior Aaron Wright, a volunteer at the event.
For more information about the Take 10 event contact Jenna Sessions at sess1je@cmich.edu or Gabby Bellissimo at belli1gf@cmich.edu.
