Hao Ting Wen '25 Recruiting Profile

I started crew as a sculler in the summer of 2020 for my local rowing club in Shenzhen, China, after COVID shutdown all other sports facilities in my area. From then on, my love for rowing only grew deeper, and I joined the Emma Willard School team in the fall of my freshman year, but as a sweep rower, rowing at various head races such as Head of the Fish. Come spring of freshman year, my coaches had convinced me to give coxing a shot, so I did, and I have been coxing ever since! 

With my background as a rower, I use my understanding of technique to help coach rowers & new coxswains on and off the water. I cox for the Emma Willard School team in the fall and spring seasons, and I have a team-oriented and flexible attitude to my coxing. Not only do I provide feedback to rowers, I am also eager for feedback about my coxing from rowers and coaches. I have hopped in stroke seat in a novice 8 during practices to help new coxswains learn how to steer and make calls, while leading the novice rowers behind me. I am also a flexible coxswain as I have to deal with the many challenges of the Hudson River, including tide, current, speedboats, barges, etc!

As I am always looking to challenge myself, I also cox outside of my school's 2 on-water seasons. I attended Sparks Rowing's Coxswains Only Challenge in December 2023 to learn how to execute a race plan well through analyzing audio recordings, and to speak with fellow coxswains & experienced coaches about my coxing. Furthermore, I spent my spring break coxing for Rio Salado Rowing Club and Tempe Junior Crew in Phoenix, AZ, in order to "freshen up" my coxing skills ahead of my school's spring season. This summer, I am coxing and racing for Rock Creek Rowing, a masters program in DC while taking college-accredited courses at Georgetown University.

At school, I have challenged myself by taking several AP equivalent courses called Advanced Studies (AS) and high-level courses, including AS French 5, AS US Government & Politics, and Calculus as a junior, and I will be taking AS Social & Cognitive Psychology, AS Economics, and AS Statistics as a senior. Not only do I lead as a coxswain, I am also involved in various other leadership positions. I am the Co-Head of my school's Model UN Club as well as my school's orchestra and chamber orchestra, and I am also a peer tutor for French.