Blake Pegrum '19 Recruiting Profile

I started to row in January of 2015 and ever since I started I have been obsessed with almost every single aspect of the sport. Within the first couple of years I learnt how to adjust a boat almost completely and had multiple experiences diving into why the technique of rowing is the way it is.

Within the next couple of years, I broke a seven minute 2k milestone and I’ve been hunting to go faster ever since. I’ve started by weightlifting to get more muscle and bought my own equipment to have at my house so on nights after rowing I could come home lift and then go about my homework. In recent year, on the other hand, I have more switched it for a more traditional gym experience and I’m currently going to the gym 6 times a week in the morning before I head to school, and have educated myself on the most effective way to build muscle and physic to aid in my rowing ability as much as possible.

Even though I’m putting all this effort into rowing I still make plenty of time to do my schoolwork and exell in my studies. I do my gym workouts in the morning very early so I can have all day to rejuvenate and be ready for the row in the afternoon, and because I workout in the morning as well I am more effective and alert then I would be if I just woke up and went to school. Generally the morning weightlifting session for me is a more effective use of my time and gives me the ability to do more in my day.

With my studies I am very interested in pursuing a Mechanical Engineering Degree with a minor in Aerospace as well as environmental sciences, and possibly some sort of business or finance minor. I would like to pursue these degrees for my passion of space and for the security of my future. I feel that a major in the Mechanical Engineering field will allow me to find a wider range of jobs and give me the ability for just in case I cannot find a job right away I can have a placeholder. Then, of course, have the aerospace minor so I do specialize in the field that I am particularly interested in. The other minors (environmental science and finance) comes from my experience with the St. Lucie River and my passion to protect the environment in the most convenient but effective way possible and my want to be able to have financial literacy in the future and have the ability to organize my wealth and understand how to pursue economic gain.

My passion for sport and my want to learn as much as I can describe me as a person. I want to able to know as much as I can so I can be as helpful as I can in the future in whatever way possible. Whether it be through a new way to produce efficient electricity or design a rocket that can expand the human sphere of influence to new plants and solar systems or have a financial literacy to aid my future family and possibly future business in some way. All of this with the beautiful sport of rowing keeping me health and inspiring me every day to do better and strive above all the rest.