Sophia Farbarzhevich '20 Recruiting Profile

    I've always been a leader, but my freshmen year it became more apparent than when I was a kid. I joined the swim and dive team, and I met my role model. This girl was a captain, and I grew extremely close to her over the year. We were both divers, and she taught me how to look at people from a different perspective. She is now a D1 diver at MSU. Later in the year, I joined the rowing team, and I just knew that I wanted to become a coxswain.

     I actually started off as a rower, and erged practically all of indoor season with the other rowers. As we got out on the water, my coaches pulled me aside and instantly saw my leadership skills, and I became a coxswain. As every new rower, I started as a novice on the team, but once we got out on the water, I started being a cox for not just freshmen boats but JV boats as well. And before I knew it, I was coxing seniors and varsity as a freshman! I coxed mostly male boats, and my coaches noticed that I worked a lot better with guys. I started staying for BOTH guys and girls practices. Eventually states rolled around, and I was placed in our men's JV 4-boat. This was by far one of my favorite boats I had been in. The boat consisted of 3 juniors and 1 sophomore. Cutting straight to the final race of states, we ended up winning by open water. In all of our history of FHN rowing, this was the first time a men's boat had won states. 

    Through this experience, I learned that being a coxswain takes a lot of discipline, patience, character, determination, teamwork and many more very vital characteristics, but most of all leadership. I am an older sister of two younger brothers and I portray a lot of my older sister characteristics into rowing as well. Personally I think I am a very uplifting and supportive person as well, which helps a lot in coxing. Not only that, but I am also in student government currently which also requires my leadership skills. Balancing life a long with being a varsity diver and rower member, an older sister, and a member all the clubs that I am involved in, I maintain a high grade point average. I am a very dedicated and self motivated person; if I want something I will earn it. This may be what makes me different from other recruits; I balance things out fairly well, and I get the job done. I hope to cox in college since I truly love the sport, and I love the family atmosphere of a rowing team. Rowing is a sport that is so different from other sports because of the need for teamwork. In the future I hope to end up working in the medical field, perhaps as a physician later in life. I know that all the skills that I am learning from rowing will not only help me in my future profession, but also in my family life.