It’s not very often you meet someone who inspires you. For Alex Parsons, UW-La Crosse Physical Education graduate student and former UWL undergraduate, it was a 15-year-old boy on the Holman Cross Country team. Alex is the assistant coach and helps him with his anxiety about running courses and this year the young athlete, diagnosed with autism, just ended a fantastic season, finishing each race all by himself.
“It’s been a great experience. Coaching has been one of the most rewarding experiences,” Alex said. “I’ve developed a relationship with him over the last two years. At first he was pretty shy and didn’t want to talk to me, didn’t want anything to do with me. Slowly I just started to ask him some questions and getting to know him a little bit. It’s really amazing to see how our relationship has progressed forward to the point where, now, its like he’s my younger brother and a great friend,” he continued.
Alex imagines himself becoming a Physical Education teacher, like his dad, but his dream is to make an adventure program in the community to serve all students, including adults and those with disabilities.
“I’ve had so many good opportunities to work with students with disabilities. I would love to make a universal adventure or challenge course so that population can come in and do things that their peers can do and have those experiences. I’ve worked with groups that come to the adventure program here in La Crosse. The Motor Development program actually takes a trip each semester to go to the indoor walk wall and some of the elements we have inside. It’s a lot of fun to see all the smiles on their faces as they’re climbing up or getting pulled up on the flying squirrel,” Alex said.
The adventure program would include activities such as hiking, rock climbing, kayaking, camping, and possibly a high ropes course to try and help the groups bond together and build their interpersonal skills.
Alex has played sports all throughout high school and continues to play anything from Hockey to Ping-Pong. Growing up in Wausau, Wisconsin, he was surrounded with outdoors and physical activity. “My dad and my family are a huge part of my life. We always go camping for the Fourth of July. My family inspired me to go into the outdoors and enjoy camping. We hunt a lot at our cabin. I’ve been playing sports since I was a little kid. My dad did elementary physical education, and now he’s been teaching at a middle school for 25 years. He inspired me to come to La Crosse,” said Alex.
So far, Alex has enjoyed his education and working in the schools. He said that working with different kids is “awesome” and can, “definitely, imagine coaching in the future.”
Alex was able to share his dreams and love for physical education through the Dr. Pepper Tuition Challenge just recently, in which it asks you to create a goal and explain why you want to pursue that goal (You can check out his platform in the video above). “I kind of had the idea for the platform in my head before the Dr. Pepper challenge came along. This is the field I want to go into, and this is what I want to do with my future. I had it all preplanned; this was just an excellent opportunity for me to get it out there,” he said.
I’m glad Alex got an opportunity to share his goals and ambitions, because it’s definitely a dream worth sharing. Good luck to you, Alex, on what seems to be an adventure of a lifetime!