As science teacher Olivia Brown quickened her stride, the memories of past runs she had gone on with her boyfriend started playing in her mind, prying her focus away from the goal ahead of her.
Despite trying to shake them, her thoughts continued to darken her spirit. She was determined to run a marathon, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to continue her training.
Although she was still as athletic and physically able as before, she was emotionally debilitated.
For years, her boyfriend accompanied her on most of her runs. But when he passed away, running became more of an emotional challenge than a physical one, and her whirlwind of mournful thoughts became too much to bear.
“When I ran, I just thought of him,” Brown said. “It was just too much. So I was like, ‘OK, I need to take a break from this.’”
In search of a new form of exercise, science teacher Olivia Brown considered rock climbing, something that she always wanted to try but never felt confident enough to do.
What started out as an activity she pursued to help live outside her thoughts developed into a sport that she fell in love with. She now shares that love by teaching children how to climb at North Mass Boulder on top of being a teacher at SHS.
After her late boyfriend’s death, she felt that she had nothing to lose. She then decided to push past her self-doubt and climb the rock wall at a local gym with her close friend.
She quickly fell in love with the mental tranquility that climbing gave her. The level of focus that was required silenced the negative thoughts that floated around in her head.
“When you’re climbing, you literally can’t think about anything else,” Brown said. “So the grief, the death and all the bad things, if I’m climbing … I’m not thinking about that.”
It was this feeling that led her to continuously come back to the rock wall. 
Once climbing became a hobby that she was regularly returning to, she got a membership at North Mass Boulder, a community gym in Indianapolis. She often brought different friends and family members with her in hopes that they would take a liking to the sport just like she did.
Her sister, Delaney Brown, was among the few who started rock climbing because of Brown.
“She’s very helpful in talking me through scary parts (and) encouraging me to keep climbing higher,” Delaney said.
Before long, Brown decided to combine her passions for education and rock climbing by taking on a teaching role at the gym. She already had friends that worked there, so she felt that she would fit right in.
The role entails teaching rotating eight-week classes for different age groups. She has taught children as young as 4 years old and as old as 14.
Immediately upon starting, she found joy in helping children build their confidence and break their mental barriers when climbing.
“Seeing when kids are growing and seeing them hit new milestones is really cool,” Brown said.
This year marks her fifth year of teaching rock climbing, and she still feels the same spark she used to, despite having a new obligation through the week.
Once she started teaching science at SHS, she began to find it difficult to squeeze teaching rock climbing into an already tight schedule, especially during busy times of the school year.
This is partially because the gym is over 20 minutes away from the school, and driving both ways cuts into her time each week.
However, she also feels that sacrificing extra time is well worth the joy she gets through teaching in both settings.
While she enjoys the more laid-back environment of teaching high school, she finds the lively, lighthearted energy of the younger students to be just as charming.
“As long as (I’m) doing what I love, it’s not that bad,” Brown said.
Regardless of if she’s teaching science at SHS or rock climbing at North Mass Boulder, she remains motivated by knowing that she is fostering environments in which children and teens can learn, grow and become the best version of themselves.
“The best part is the confidence and energy (they gain) from it. It’s super cool,” Brown said.
