The rush of adrenaline athletes experience while competing can be addictive no matter what sport it is, and the same is true with rock climbing.
Senior Skylar Hawn, who has been rock climbing since she was five years old, has worked over the last year to start a rock climbing club at Akins this year to help share that experience with other students. She said the Austin rock climbing community has always been welcoming and inclusive.

“It’s given me so many great opportunities so I wanted to give other people that same opportunity,” she said.
Hawn said there’s nothing quite like the rush that rock climbers get while climbing.

“There’s like this feeling that I get on the wall,” she said. “I think that a lot of other people get with sports that a lot of people wouldn’t think you would get with rock climbing was just like a little adrenaline rush and like actually seeing myself like accomplish and succeed on the wall is something really cool.”

The club hosts weekly meetings in their faculty sponsor’s classroom and they have access to Crux Climbing Center in South Austin and the Austin Bouldering Project facilities.The rock climbing club is a fun and free way to work out and connect with friends, said senior Carlos Rebollar.
“I’ve made a lot of new friends in the club,” he said.

Senior Juliet Vasquez enjoys rock climbing so much that she got a membership with Crux Climbing Center to climb outside of the regular club meetings.
Akins rock climbing club is partnering with an Austin-based non-profit called Ruby’s Rainbow which helps kids with Down Syndrome earn scholarships for college. On Oct. 15 they will be doing a “buddy day” with children with Down Syndrome. Each child will be paired with two Akins students to climb with.

Because there is a cost to pay for access to Crux Climbing Center, Hawn said she wanted the club to be free for all participants. The club raised enough money to cover 20 members this year.
“Our original goal was to have 10 members, but we caught up very quickly,” Hawn said.

There is currently a waiting list to join the club so students who are interested in joining should contact club faculty sponsor Christopher Aguilar at RM 409