{"id":708,"date":"2015-09-22T16:44:33","date_gmt":"2015-09-22T21:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/currents.winonastateu.com\/?p=590"},"modified":"2017-06-14T18:07:33","modified_gmt":"2017-06-14T18:07:33","slug":"climbing-to-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/2015\/09\/22\/climbing-to-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Climbing to Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WSU<\/a>
\nJennifer Al-Saeed can see a transformation come over her 13-year-old son, Zack, when he is on a climbing wall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time I took him climbing, he just became very calm and focused,\u201d Jennifer says. \u201cIt\u2019s such a great activity for him.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When the Winona State Indoor Climbing Center at Wabasha Recreation Center opened this spring, Jennifer and her two sons, Zack and Zane, 11, immediately became regulars. The family had been climbing for several years, but had to travel to facilities in Rochester and\u00a0La Crosse.<\/p>\n

Climbing holds special significance for Zack, who is on the autism spectrum. His mom says he\u2019s a smart kid who\u2019s good in school but sometimes gets distracted, and team sports do not fit his personality. He is now an experienced climber and belayer\u2014the person who controls the rope at the bottom of the wall and ensures the climber\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are connecting in a way we\u2019ve never connected,\u201d Jennifer says. \u201cWhen I\u2019m climbing, he will belay for me. It\u2019s a way that I\u2019m involved in his activity.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For many families like Jennifer\u2019s, the WSU Climbing Center is more than just a place for fun, learning, or exercise. It is an extension of the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the staff because they are so interactive with my kids,\u201d Jennifer says. \u201cIt\u2019s not just rules and teaching, but asking what other activities they\u2019re doing, asking them about school. It becomes more of a community.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That is what Eric Barnard, director of the Outdoor Education and Recreation Center, hoped for when he began to develop programs for the Indoor Climbing Center.<\/p>\n

The brainchild of Barnard, the 6,000 square-foot Indoor Climbing Center was completed in April 2015. It is one of the largest in the Midwest and features three climbing sections, including a 30-foot modular-style wall, two 14- foot bouldering walls, and two training stations. Barnard and his student staff are all highly trained climbing instructors.<\/p>\n

The Climbing Center is a valuable resource for both\u00a0WSU and the Winona community. Barnard said it is being used by a kids\u2019 rock climbing club, area high schools, corporations and families. There is open climbing five days a week.\u00a0Barnard continues to plan new programs\u2014date night is one of them\u2014and estimates the facility will have 20,000 users in its first year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s inspiring for me to see the families come in and say, \u2018This is our family activity,\u2019\u201d Barnard says. \u201cStudents really like it, and a lot of them are using climbing as a new mode of activity and wellness, and you see them come here and make a lot of connections. It\u2019s been embraced by a lot of people.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The WSU Indoor Climbing Center is located at Wabasha Recreation Center, 351 Lafayette Street. For more information and photos, go to winona.edu\/outdoor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jennifer Al-Saeed can see a transformation come over her 13-year-old son, Zack, when he is on a climbing wall. \u201cThe first time I took him climbing, he just became very calm and focused,\u201d Jennifer says. \u201cIt\u2019s such a great activity for him.\u201d When the Winona State Indoor Climbing Center at Wabasha Recreation Center opened this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[220,221,106,222,7,8],"class_list":["post-708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wsu-magazine","tag-climbing-center","tag-climbing-wall","tag-eric-barnard","tag-outdoor-recreation-and-education-center","tag-winona-state-university","tag-wsu"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/09\/Climbing_Success-copy.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7PQMT-bq","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=708"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1405,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708\/revisions\/1405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}