PRACTICE & PASS

3/4/20- To make the certification process more difficult, we had to wait two weeks between taking the class and taking the test due to a climbing festival being hosted by the Outdoor Adventure Center. After some anxious team practicing, it was finally time to earn the title of "certified" climber. In the end, we all passed, but how the girls reached this goal and how the boys reached this goal was slightly different ;)

ABBY

I don’t know why, but I was so nervous about having to take the certification test! Maybe it was because we had had to wait two weeks between taking the class and taking the test. Some of my memory about the correct safety checks had definitely faded. During my team’s review session, I also realized how difficult it was for me to correctly pronounce the word “belay!” Luckily, though, I was getting better at the difficult action of belaying. When it was time for the test, Maddy, Jessica, and I grouped together and each successfully passed on the first try! The boys, however, didn’t. (This could be because we made them go with the harder instructor, but we won’t talk about that!)

JESSICA

I was absolutely terrified to take the certification test! We had a two week break between taking the class and taking the test, so I had almost forgotten everything. With the help of my teammates and laser focus, I passed on the first try! Oh boy was I happy! The certification test took longer than I thought but it was important that we know our skills. I am so happy I did it and can knock that off my bucket list.

JAY

I don’t know why, but when I realized that we had to actually take our certification test the same day as training I could admit, I was a little bit nervous but also confident because we just went over what we were going to get tested on. Little did I know, I failed the first try because I wasn’t belaying correctly and my teammates did not let me hear the end of it lol. Then of course, I passed on my second try and was finally certified! That day I was so happy for my team and I because we worked so hard to accomplish this goal that we had. In general, I though it was so good that I did this because I found a future hobby that I can enjoy doing in my freetime.

MADDY

I don’t like tests so knowing that we had to get tested for getting certified made me quite nervous. It had been two weeks since we took the basics class and I knew I forgot things. Right when we walked in I saw my ex-boyfriend, funny I know, so I knew it was going to be an interesting evening. We practiced as much as we could and helped each other answer questions (shoutout to Jay and Auni for helping me with the knot many times). After practicing we were split into groups to take the test. It was intimidating answering very specific questions about the harnesses, ropes, and techniques but all of the girls killed it! We passed on the first time!

AUNI

Going into the test I was just ready for it to be over, I knew what I was doing and again I was confident. We all needed a little bit of a refresher on everything because it had been a week prior since we had taken the class because the Climbing Center had a big event for a whole week straight. Once we coached each other up, it was game time and we all had passed. I was ready for it to be over because not only was I going to climb for our class project but I wanted to go back there and climb on my own. I know that it's a great workout and where you can push yourself mentally.