JOUR 3190 // Peer Interview

University of Georgia Sophomore Tara Federico Aims to Climb a “Mile High”

When University of Georgia sophomore Tara Federico first began rock climbing in the summer of 2016, she’d never anticipated setting the goal of climbing a mile during her spring semester in 2017.

She first began climbing when introduced to the sport in her hometown through a friend and quickly gained an interest.

“Whenever she dragged me in everyone there was so welcoming and I just got really connected to the people and to the environment,” said Federico.

She then stumbled upon the rock climbing wall at the Ramsey Student Center at UGA quite coincidentally, again through a friend she met in her hometown.

“I actually met a girl at my gym at home and she talked to me about the wall here and about the people and the programs they put on,” said Federico. “She convinced me to give it a try, and I did.”

From there, Federico’s interest in the sport progressed rapidly, enthralled with the “escape” that rock climbing provided. She quickly became a regular at the university climbing wall after surpassing some of her personal anxieties.

“At the beginning when I first started going and I was still kind of new, I didn’t know anyone there. Just knowing that they’re trying to size up the new kid and not knowing how I was going to perform out there while they were all watching me was mildly terrifying,” said Federico. She overcame this with her love for the sport: “You’re just so focused on completing the task at hand and you just kind of throw yourself into it and forget everything else in the world,” said Federico.

Soon she began to crave the sense of satisfaction paired with reaching one’s goals and started to challenge herself more and more with the sport.

“There are a lot of climbs that I’ve been working on that I worked on for like, weeks on end. Then just one day I gave it a rest and came back like a week later and tried it and had gotten good enough to finish it,” said Federico.

Her latest challenge is to climb the interior rock wall at Ramsey for a distance greater than one mile. At the wall, it is referred to the “Mile High Challenge,” and is celebrated with a free T-shirt once a member climbs the wall “120-something times” within one semester, according to Federico.

At this point in time she is approximately 20 percent complete with the challenge and is working towards her goal by setting up distinct times to climb.

“If Tara sets her mind to something, there isn’t much that can stop her,” said Lucas Carter, a friend and trainer at her hometown climbing wall. “Her physical abilities are advanced enough that she should be able to complete the challenge as long as her mental state is able to match her physical capabilities.”