Paulina Almy '25 Recruiting Profile

I started rowing when I was in middle school, and since then it has become a constant in my life. It gave me a confidence that I never had prior to the sport, and improved my life in all aspects: personally, socially, academically, and physically. It has taught me the importance of working hard and striving to improve daily. One of my favorite things about rowing is the team. I feel that it is so important to have good communication in the boat and to make sure that everyone is on the same page. The boat is only fast when we move as one. An example of this is my quad from this past spring season. We were in the u17 event at Northeast Regionals, and we ended up coming in 3rd place. While we were very happy to have qualified for Youth Nationals, we did not feel it was our best performance. We felt that we lacked connection with one another. For the next few weeks before we headed down to Sarasota, we worked very hard to increase our speed and get our connection back. We came in for extra practice, tried out new strategies, and -most importantly- made sure we communicated and everyone was on the same page. We ended up placing 6th in the A final ahead of one of the teams that beat us at Regionals, and it was because of our teamwork that we were able to do so. 

I am a hard worker on and off the water, pushing myself both athletically and academically.  I have had a rigorous academic schedule both freshman and sophomore year, taking a total of 6 honors classes. I plan to continue this rigor going into my junior year by taking both honors and AP classes. Academics is something that is very important to me when exploring colleges, and I want to make sure that I attend a school where academics and athletics share the same high value. I am eager to be come a collegiate athlete, with all that in entails.