{"id":43819,"date":"2026-10-19T13:37:05","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T17:37:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=43819"},"modified":"2026-10-19T13:37:05","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T17:37:05","slug":"finding-the-next-hold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/finding-the-next-hold\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding the Next Hold"},"content":{"rendered":"

Long before Loz Jones \u201929 arrived at Furman University, she had learned to look up.<\/p>\n

Growing up in Australia, Jones loved climbing trees and spending time on playgrounds. Her family later moved to the United States, where one of the promises that helped convince her to make the move was simple: There would be a climbing gym nearby.<\/p>\n

There was. And at 8 years old, Jones tried competitive climbing.<\/p>\n

A decade later, climbing remains woven into the story of who she is, even as the sophomore starts to explore what comes next.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my initial draw to climbing was just that I could go up really high because I loved climbing trees,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI really enjoyed just going up, seeing how high I could go.\u201d<\/p>\n

That instinct \u2013 to climb higher, figure out the next move and see what might be possible \u2013 has followed Jones to Furman.<\/p>\n

A sport built on solving problems<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Competitive climbing demanded far more than strength.<\/p>\n

Jones competed in bouldering, sport and speed climbing, training at a high level for much of her adolescence. She eventually competed nationally and traveled for competitions, dedicating countless hours to a sport that challenged both her body and her mind.<\/p>\n

For Jones, the mental challenge was what kept her coming back.<\/p>\n

\u201cClimbing is 90% a mental game and 10% a physical battle,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can be really strong, but if you’re not looking at how to solve the problem on a wall or figure out what to change, you’re not going to make any progress no matter how strong you are.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lesson extended beyond competition.<\/p>\n

Jones said some of her favorite moments came when she was alone on the way, working through the challenges that came up with each decision. Climbing forced her to focus on the move in front of her rather than everything happening around her.<\/p>\n

She learned that perspective can be useful anywhere, including through the college search process and, now, navigating the college experience.<\/p>\n

Finding Furman and changing direction<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"\"

Loz Jones \u201929 was a competitive climber and now helps manage the new climbing gym in the Lay Physical Activies Center.<\/p><\/div>\n

Jones came to Furman with a plan.<\/p>\n

Sort of.<\/p>\n

She originally intended to study music education. She plays violin and piano and had been accepted into Furman\u2019s competitive music program. But just a week into her first year, she made the difficult decision to leave the program without knowing exactly where she was headed.<\/p>\n

It was unfamiliar territory for someone accustomed to having things mapped out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of the first times I didn’t have a plan in my life,\u201d Jones said. \u201cThat was completely new for me, but also kind of exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than viewing that uncertainty as a problem, Jones explored. She talked with people. She discovered a renewed interest in science and eventually found herself on the pre-med track, studying Spanish while considering where a future in medicine might lead.<\/p>\n

A May Experience in the emergency department at Greenville Memorial Hospital gave her another glimpse of that future. The hands-on experience appealed to the same part of Jones that loves climbing: the part that enjoys solving problems, thinking quickly and working directly with people.<\/p>\n

She doesn’t yet know exactly where that path will lead.<\/p>\n

And she’s increasingly comfortable with that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve really grown a lot by being okay with not having a total plan and even being uncomfortable with that,\u201d Jones said. \u201cBecause then it keeps me open to options that I didn’t know were available.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bringing climbing to campus<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Jones committed to Furman before she knew the University would build a climbing wall. But access to climbing mattered.<\/p>\n

She had already secured a job as a coach at BlocHaven, a climbing gym about 20 minutes from campus, and she knew she could remain connected to the climbing community.<\/p>\n

Then, during a Furman alumni event in Charlotte, she learned the University might be building a climbing wall of its own.<\/p>\n

During her first week on campus, she tracked down Ian Brown, director of campus recreation and wellness, who was helping oversee the project, and introduced herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so stoked because Furman was such a cool place, and I was like, the only thing it’s missing is a climbing wall,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Today, Jones serves as a student manager for the wall in Furman\u2019s newly renovated and recently dedicated Lays Physical Activities Center. She helped develop policies, worked through route-setting questions and trained the staff members who would operate the facility.<\/p>\n

The next move<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The same person who once measured progress by reaching the top of a route now measures it by being willing to explore an unfamiliar path. At Furman, that means Spanish and pre-med studies, emergency medicine, music, photography, climbing and whatever else catches her attention along the way.<\/p>\n

She still climbs. She still coaches. She still works at the wall. And she still looks for the next problem worth solving.<\/p>\n

But she no longer feels compelled to know exactly where every route will lead. That, she said, might be the most important lesson climbing has taught her: Sometimes the best way forward is simply to find the next hold, trust yourself and climb.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Loz Jones \u201929, a decade spent climbing has taught her to embrace challenges, solve problems and trust herself \u2013 lessons she now brings to Furman\u2019s classroom and climbing wall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":389,"featured_media":43792,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,59,27,61,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","category-pre-health","category-student-life","category-the-furman-advantage","category-top-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/389"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43819"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43823,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43819\/revisions\/43823"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}