Harding Charter Prep is starting a rock climbing club led by Dr. Daniel Sheurch.

This program will be an all-year activity where students will learn the basics of rock climbing. The meetings will run from the third week of September through the end of the school year.

“Rock-climbing is a sport that requires you to trust other people and it’s also a learned sport and both of those together, I think are good qualities for helping students wanting to improve themselves,” Scheurch said.

The meetings will take place every Thursday at 6 p.m. at Rocktown. Competitions will be held on Sundays for those interested in competitively climbing. Rocktown is located downtown beside I-40 on SE 4^th street.

“We are looking at [rock climbing] through an organization that is called Touchstone, which is a mentoring organization and they actually are the people who own most of the rock climbing gym,” Sheurch said.

With the help of Touchstone, a youth mentoring organization, Sheurch is trying to make the club free of charge for anyone who joins, but students may need to raise funds for the program. The equipment will be made available to all those who participate in the club.

There will be no prerequisites for climbing this year. Eligibility will not count but Sheurch expects students to keep good grades. There will also be a trip to Arkansas for those interested in mountain climbing at the end of the school year.

An informational meeting was held on September 13.