![]() ![]() “There are other people at The Arsenal who are back in Muncie and love it now. He looked around at those at The Arsenal who choose to live in Muncie. Soon he figured out what was keeping him in Muncie. “About a year ago, I thought: ‘If this is my goal, why have I not done it yet? I feel like there is something keeping me here I just don’t know what it is.’” ![]() It was around this time that he bumped into Brooke and started working out at The Arsenal. He commuted from Muncie, but still had the goal of leaving Muncie again to live in Noblesville or Indianapolis. “My younger sister got in trouble with the law when she was still a juvenile, so I decided to work with kids.” Muncie as home?Īfter graduation, Mark got a job as a custody officer in Pendleton. Mark’s decision to help kids who who were in trouble was a personal one. He had started in engineering, but then turned his focus to helping kids first as an elementary education major, and then as a law and society major. But I also hang out with some of the older people at The Arsenal, too.” Like at The Arsenal now, Kylie, Brette, Emily, and I try to work out together every day. This theme of being between two groups–being a bridge–would continue to play out in Mark’s adult life. When he got back from Afghanistan, he was friends with the upperclassmen and in class and activities with those younger than him. His fraternity elected him as an officer, and he was appointed to the school-wide committee who ran the dance marathon, which has raised more than $4.5 million in support of Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. ![]() His fellow soldiers and students took note. When Sergeant Mark Clement came back to Purdue after a year in Afghanistan, he brought his overseas experiences with him. In 2009, Mark put his studies on hold and deployed to Afghanistan for a year. He had the experience of an upperclassman, but was only a first year student. After the first semester of his senior year, he had met all of his requirements to graduate, had joined and trained with the National Guard, and had been accepted at Purdue.Īt Purdue, Mark joined the ROTC and was immediately seen as a leader among his peers, since much of their training centered on things he had already learned when he had gone through basic training in high school. Mark wanted out of Muncie so bad, he lobbied the school for an early graduation. “When I graduated from high school, it was my intent of never coming back.” I didn’t ask him if he gave up any sacks to the future NFL linebacker, but let’s just assume he did. He played against Ryan Kerrigan who went on to play for the Washington Redskins. He graduated from Southside where he wrestled and played offensive guard on the football team. So I thought, ‘Ok, this is not bad.’ A month later I got a membership.” Anywhere but Muncie It was pull-ups and box jumps, a much easier workout. The only thing I remember from it is doing assisted pull ups. “So I came on New Year’s Eve of 2013, and the first workout was Fran. She said, ‘You’re fat.’ I said, ‘Ok, what do you want me to do about it?’ She said, ‘Go to The Arsenal.’” We were sitting there talking, and she said, ‘How long have you been out for?’ I told her about a month. This was right after I got out of the Army. And Brooke was still in Muncie, so I was like, ‘Hey, there’s this guy who wants to join.’” “A guy I lived with wanted to join the Guard. Brooke was an early member of The Arsenal, and, if you’ve had the pleasure of meeting her, you know she’s not afraid to tell you a hard life truth. Arsenal member Mark Clement started CrossFit because a former high school classmate, Brooke Bailey, told him he was looking a bit out of shape. ![]()
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