It’s hard for some to imagine John Eric Wydeven as anything other than the Hemingway-esque, salt of the earth yet lovable and goofy AP English teacher that many students and teachers alike have come to know and respect. But most people who have been in any of Wydeven’s classes or know him personally can attest to the fact that he has another major passion: rock climbing.

When it’s mentioned, his eyes light up, and he almost always points to the huge picture of a tall rock hanging on his wall and exclaims with joy, “I’m up on that rock somewhere!!”

Wydeven gravitated toward climbing at a very early age, admitting with a chuckle that his parents couldn’t keep him in a crib as a baby, as he would always climb out of it. His interest in climbing grew as he got older, as he climbed trees and flipped through National Geographics and admired the pictures of people rock climbing all over the world. His voice becomes obviously passionate when he discusses his love for rock climbing, saying “I LOVE it. It makes me feel so good and so happy, and it’s challenging. It’s a good practice in how to mitigate risk and control fear.”

His enthusiasm was further illustrated when he excitedly showed me about 300 pictures of his recent climbing trip to Mexico, the pictures all having a common theme of either rocks, scenic views of the Mexican landscape, or snaps of a very happy Wydeven climbing said rocks. So when an opportunity arose a few years ago for Wydeven to take over as the sponsor for the McCallum Rock Climbing Club, he gladly took it.

Rock Climbing Club meets every Thursday after school at various rock-climbing gyms around town. The premise of the club is to give kids an opportunity to learn to climb in a safe environment around their peers, and get a form of exercise that’s also fun and adventurous.

“That’s the basic premise: teach kids how to climb and give them a lifelong skill that they can use to adventure in the great outdoors,” Wydeven said.

Kids of all levels are given the opportunity to explore this form of exercise, and are helped out and spotted by their fellow peers when assistance is needed. It’s a great way for kids to occupy their time in a positive and productive way. For the most part, Wydeven said, his role as Climbing Club sponsor and his role as a teacher doe not conflict in any significant way, although he admitted that sometimes he feels like his two worlds collide and “Climbing Wydeven” is at odds with ‘Teacher Wydeven.” Most of the time, he says, everything about him comes together to create who he is, and that is reflected in both the classroom and the club.

“I’m always me… So I bring everything that I am or do or think about and that comes into the classroom,” he explains. In terms of rock climbing, he says,“ I don’t worry about it, I more love it, because I’m sharing with other people–young people–something they’ll hopefully love too. So if they get that out of it, we win!”

And it seems as though the Climbing Club has most definitely “won” in that regard. Junior Taty’ana Jammer, who joined Climbing Club just this year, explains that rock climbing serves as a calming and stress-relieving exercise.

“It’s helped me become stronger physically and has also helped me to calm my thoughts in a way,” she elaborated. “When I climb, the only thing I can really think about is what my next move will be. I’m better at chilling out when I’m stressed, when I can take things one at a time.” The club has been a great success over the years, and has inspired a passion for rock climbing in many students. Wydeven said that he finds his involvement in the club to be very gratifying and that he finds great satisfaction upon hearing about former students continuing their love for climbing past high school.

The notion of sharing his passion with students is what makes the job so meaningful to him, and he enjoys teaching a skill that he wishes that he had been given access to in high school. “It’s such a neat thing for me to share it with other people, and it’s gratifying to help people find something that can be a passion for them,” he says. “I want to give my students something that can be a lifelong method of enjoyment for them.”