<f the coldest day since 1996, the Recreation Center began offering ice skate rentals this past week. After years of cold winters skating alone on the bald spot, senior Josh Carson said enough was enough. “It’s always frustrated me when I’ve asked friends to go skating and they don’t have skates and have no reason to purchase them to use on one or two occasions.”
Carson, a CSA Class of 2014 Representative, formed a committee in the fall to tackle the issue. “I wondered since freshman year if they had thought about getting pairs of skates.” He reached out to Mikki Showers, manager of the Recreation Center, for help. “I had thought about it two or three years ago, but the money was a big deal, the storage was a big deal, and I wasn’t sure kids would want to walk over to the Rec.”
After emailing her, the two met fall term. They examined potential storage areas; talked about how the rental system would work, and brainstormed other places the skates could possibly be stored. After deciding the Rec was the best place, Mr. Carson approached the CSA Budget Committee for funding.
He talked to Bill at Champion Sports on Division Street to get an estimate on skate prices and estimated needing $2,000 dollars to purchase 20 pairs of hockey skates, and 20 pairs of figure skates. After some discussion, he was awarded $2,500 dollars, which was then transferred to the Rec Center.
The money came out of the $160,000 dollar CSA Rollover fund, which aims to fund long term projects for the campus community. I asked Sophie Kissin ’14, an instructor for the Intermediate Ice Skating PE class, how the new program would affect her classes. “I think that more people will start signing up for ice skating.” With more availability, students who might not have had the chance to skate earlier in life, now have the opportunity to try it out. “It will get people from states outside of Minnesota and the Midwest, like California, to skate.”
Anschel Burk ’14, from the Bay Area, was looking for skates this past week, when he happened across the Rec Center program. “Before I was going to spend $50 dollars on a pair of ice skates, I asked around and a friend of mine referred me to the program.”
With more skates available, there are now more ways to get outside during these chilly winter months. On the benefits of skating, Kissin said, “it’s a huge stress reliever. Getting out skating and having fun, moving your body and exercising, helps clear your mind from homework.”
And now, after Showers checked out the first pairs of skates from the Rec last week, she believes that all students “should skate before they leave Carleton College.”
Hockey and figure skates can be checked out from the Rec Center for one day at a time by using your One Card.