This year marks the second annual Crucible Extreme Obstacle Challenge at Mississippi State University. The Crucible was the brainchild of three Starkville men who wanted to find a fun and interactive way to give back to the community and help those in need, according to managing partner Brad Jones. 
Jones said he and his partners, Jason Stoker and Steph O’nan, came up with this idea after Jones did a similar event in Texas. 
“Me and my two partners came up with the Crucible after I participated in a similar event called Tough Mudder in Austin, Texas. When I moved back to Starkville, I thought to myself ,‘There is no reason that something like that could not work in a college town.’ So we started it from scratch. We came up with the name, the image and everything else just fell into place,” Jones said. 
The Crucible event is an extreme obstacle course that involves a lot of military style challenges. Jones said the challenges are tough and very physically demanding, but the ultimate goal for the participants is to learn leadership, teamwork and to gain a strong sense of camaraderie.
“The events at the Crucible include a lot of crawling through mud under barbed wire, climbing walls, running through swampy water -— it is a very military style course. The course is a total of 4.2 miles,” Jones said. “Even though it is a lot of hard work, it is meant to be fun and build camaraderie with your friends.”
Stoker said a portion of the proceeds from the Crucible event supports the MSU general scholarship fund, the Reclaimed Project and helps fund a few orphanages in Africa. 
“The proceeds for the Crucible go mainly to the MSU general scholarship fund. MSU has done so much for the Starkville community, and the Crucible team would like to give it back through scholarships,” Stoker said. “Proceeds also go to the Camp Seminal, which is a Boy Scout camp, and the Reclaimed Project. The Reclaimed project is a local, Christ-oriented non-profit organization that aims to help orphaned children find families that want to adopt.”
Many of the participating MSU students said they think the Crucible is a positive way to raise money for charity. Kayla Payton, sophmore undeclared, said she is participating for the second year in a row. She said she thinks the Crucible is the perfect way to spend her Saturday.
“I am not the most athletic person, but I enjoy pushing myself physically just to see how far I can go. The Crucible event helps me push myself to do things I did not even know I could do. I cannot think of a better way to spend my Saturday, exercise and helping others all at the same time,” Payton said. 
The Crucible will be held Saturday at the Highlands Plantation in Starkville. The participation cost is $70 per participant and $10 per spectator. 
Even though the event is fairly new to the Starkville area, Stoker said he and his partners are hoping that it continues for some time.
“The Crucible started out as an idea, and it has blossomed into this awesome event that we are very grateful for. My partners and I hope to continue to help everyone that we can through this program, and hopefully, it will continue for many years to come,” Stoker said.