Micaela Lozada '26 Recruiting Profile

At 13 years of age, at the end of 8th grade, I moved from my home country, Peru, to Atlanta Georgia where I learned about the value of accepting discomfort, and its capacity to transform an individual, hungry, energetic, and ambitious as myself into her most capable version. During my last months in Peru, I rowed, and I remember the ergs, how hard they felt, the N95 mask I wore every day to practice during early 2022, my oversized cotton t-shirts, and wired earphones during a 4k. I realized the importance of inner strength, I got used to doing hard things, and I promised to be a leader.  If I were to ask my teammates today what they think of me, many would say I am competitive, others that I am very cheerful, others that I am hard working, but what I think that most would agree with is that I am tough. I believe that two types of people respond to adversity: those who mold their behaviors by it and submit to it, and those who break past the stigma and become even better than before because of it. So when an obstacle arises, I strive to become the latter. 

When I came to St Andrew Rowing Club I had a purpose- to leave it better than I found it. I would like to believe that so far, that is what I have done.  I have seen myself evolve from a girl in Lima, who was scared of her teammates and was left out of breath from the warm-up to a strong-willed young woman in Georgia, who motivates them to be their most successful selves on and off the water and holds herself accountable. I love the erg, I love to row, I love the feeling of coming into practice every day after school, as tired as I could be, leaving my bag on the floor, and knowing that for the next 2 hours and a half, I will be focused purely on rowing, and will have a fun, strong, and hardworking group of women to do that with. Through my journey so far I realized that hard work pays off in a way I never did before, and that through that hard work and achievement, but most importantly my attitude, is that respect is earned.