Suffolk introduced a new club last week dedicated to rock climbing. SuffolkCLIMBS was started by Joseph Nguyen, a sophomore marketing and management major, who is now serving as the president of his new club.
“Honestly, this rock climbing thing just started as a personal hobby, and I was like yeah this is fun, I feel like other people would like it too,” said Nguyen. “So last spring semester I was like okay, if I can climb V6 [a level of climbing] over this summer or before the semester ends, maybe I’ll consider starting a club. I don’t want a president that’s not competent. So then it happened, I hit V6, and I reached out to people I knew.”
Addison Caster, a sophomore majoring in marketing, climbed competitively for eight years and now serves as the treasurer of SuffolkCLIMBS.
“I didn’t exactly know the process [of starting a club], and Joseph approached me, because I had talked about climbing in class. I was like, ‘yeah, I’ve been wanting to get one started, I just never took the initiative.’ I’m excited to finally make it happen,” said Caster.
While there is no official first meeting date yet, Nguyen plans to host the club’s first climbing gym outing in early February.
“We’re trying to do the first Friday or Saturday that’s coming up in February. We were trying to have an eboard meeting before that where everyone could meet us and we’ll talk about who we are but I don’t think timing is going to work out for that. Hopefully in the next couple weeks, that will be ideal,” said Nguyen.
Plans for the club include monthly or bimonthly outings to indoor rock climbing gyms.
“We’re going to go climb at least once a month because the Alewife Central Rock Gym and the Rock Spot in South Boston, they both do a first Friday and first Saturday of the month discounted rates for students already. Depending on the funding we get, we will try to go twice a month,” said Nguyen.
Nguyen explained that the club will also hold in-school meetings and events.
“We’re thinking of doing in-classroom smaller meetings, not actually going out to climb, either watching documentaries or learning about different styles. Like watching ‘Free Solo,’ things like that,” said Nguyen.
“Free Solo” is a popular climbing documentary which features Alex Honnold climbing El Capitan without ropes.
Nguyen highlighted that no climbing experience is necessary to join the club.
“Anybody and everybody can come,” said Nguyen. “If you want to just try it, or if you want to go regularly, or you’ve already been going and you want to go with people from school and introduce other people to it, or just for fun to be around people who have the same interest as you.”
Community is a big part of rock climbing, which Caster wants to emphasize with this club.
“I just want to get people psyched on climbing. I want to give people community,” said Caster.
Nguyen encourages everyone interested in the club to follow SuffolkCLIMBS’ Instagram, sign up for emails and follow them on SUConnect to hear news about the club’s first meeting and future meetings to come.
