• How does what you learned as an athlete affect your life currently? 

Being an athlete taught me a lot about time management and prioritizing all of your responsibilities. Managing athletics and studying in college required me to focus and put full effort into rowing while at practice and races, and shift to fully focusing on my studies while in the classroom. Being successful in both my academics and athletics also required a strong work ethic. My time management and strong work ethic have carried through my life and led me to continually seek out challenging opportunities. Without the skills being an athlete gave me, I would not be able to be successful in my career and graduate education.

• What is your fondest memory of life on campus?

Living close to all my friends and teammates gave me memories I will never forget. I miss being able to study, grab dinner or hang out in each others dorms and be able to experience college life with some of my lifelong friends.

• What is your fondest memory as an athlete?

My fondest memory as an athlete was my entire senior season. This was not only my personal best season, but our team was extremely successful as a whole. We were able to travel a lot for various regattas and our NCAA championship. The final boat I was in had girls from all different years, and together we had such a positive attitude and pushed each other to do our best at the final races of the season. It was such a good ending to my college rowing career.

• What do you believe is the greatest challenge facing athletes today?

I believe that one of the biggest challenges athletes face today is perfectionism. The expectations to be successful in the classroom and be the best athlete in their respective sport is mostly internal, but there are outside pressures that make this challenge even harder to overcome. It is so easy to become hard on oneself and expect more, but I think athletes need to remind themselves that they are human and can only do so much, they should aim to always do their best, but be aware of their limits.

• Describe a time that a coach/teammate/mentor inspired you.

It is hard to pick just one instance where a coach or teammate inspired me. Almost all sports utilize teammates encouraging you, but rowing especially due to the nature of the sport. Most of the time we spent upstairs in Gallagher in the erg room provided me with instances where I was inspired by my entire team. If you never have used a rowing machine, it is very exhausting, and if you are doing a difficult workout you rely on the encouragement of your teammates to push you through. So many practices my mind was telling me to quit, and my teammates not only recognized this, but knew how to encourage me to continue and do better than I thought possible. My 3 years on the team was spent with many, many teammates and coaches who inspired me more times than I can briefly describe.

• Do you have a message to share with current student athletes?

You are capable of much more than you think. A lot of the barriers you face in athletics are mental, but you can push yourself much further than you think. When you get overwhelmed, remember to breathe and refocus on your overall goal.

• What are you up to now? (career, family, hobbies)

I just started my first year of medical school at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. I accepted the HPSP scholarship for the US Navy, so I will work as a Naval Physician after graduation.