The Challenge of the Ropes Course

by Daphne, Freshman Scholar and Guest Blogger

Hello!  My name is Daphne, and I'm from Pulaski, VA.  Coming into a program as a freshman can be extremely scary, but some of the best memories are made by overcoming challenges and doing things that once scared you. In the Freshman Scholars Program, we participated in a low and high ropes course. The low ropes course was on the second day of the program with the FOCUS and Freshman Scholars groups together. The low ropes course was a challenge to work together and to help each other as much as possible. Even if there were disagreements on how to complete an obstacle, we all made it through successfully.

On Tuesday of the second week, the Freshman Scholars went to the high ropes course. This part was when things got more frightening and some people had to be taken down in the middle of the course. As we stood down on the ground looking up, we saw the ropes were thirty feet up in the air. The first few groups who went up there did it fairly fast without many difficulties. A few of us below on the ground were cheering on the ones up top.

As my turn came, Jess was already up at the top of the thirty-foot pole. She cheered me on as I climbed up the pole. As I climbed, I felt my heart racing and my body struggling, but I finally made it to the top. Out of breath, I stabled myself on a small platform. I successfully made it through three different ropes!  On the next one, however, I slipped off the rope and fell into my harness, which felt really frightening and caused my anxiety to increase. I finally made it to the third platform with Max's help, and Max and Cari finally got me down to the ground without me panicking too much more.

Once I calmed down, Jasmine and I climbed up a separate pole (again) and embraced each other to slide down the zip line. We were both terrified and had to be taken down on the ropes. We finally went down on the zip line screaming the whole way down!  After I got down there, I felt so accomplished of what I had completed. So, even if you think you can't do something, you can!  Even though I didn't complete everything, I am proud of what I did do.