Instructor Profile: Terri Arends

“Don’t underestimate the power of passionate people,” says Terri Arends, the group

fitness director for the Aaron Family Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Dallas. A dynamically trained sports professional, Arends designs innovative group programming that encourages participants to meet their fitness goals while supporting the betterment of the Dallas community at large. Arends is particularly passionate about finding a cure for ovarian cancer. After meeting three women at the JCC who had been diagnosed with the disease, in 2012, Arends helped to spearhead Dallas’s inaugural Wheel to Survive ride, an event that raised awareness of and funds for combatting ovarian cancer, a silent disease that claims one woman’s life every 37 minutes.

Over the past four years, Arends has watched Wheel to Survive grow from a small gathering of dedicated riders to an event teeming with courageous survivors and hopeful friends, families, and community members. Arends is grateful for the Dallas community’s continued support of the ride, and she is excited to participate in the ride’s fifth year as a spinning master instructor, leading dedicated people from all over the Dallas community in rallying for a cure!