Eric Sax Silva '25 Recruiting Profile

I had my first taste of rowing summer before eighth grade. After a meager 3 days on ergs and in an indoor tank, the week-long rowing camp threw us in mixed 8+ lineups. Rowing was more difficult than any other sport I’d taken part in. Soccer, football, and skiing all paled in comparison to going out on the lake. To be honest, I hated it. But something inexplainable happened; I wanted to go back. A year and a half later, I found myself signing up for crew at Saint John’s for the spring season. My first season was a bit chaotic, as most novice seasons tend to go. Whether I was in the First Novice 8+ or the Fourth Varsity 8+, I found myself picking up the pace and steadily improving with my coach’s guidance. 

My second season in the following fall I found myself at Shrewsbury High Crew, ready to row. The boy’s team coach, Coach Sims, quickly helped me slot in to the new program and taught me almost everything I know about the sport today. At Shrewsbury I pushed myself hard and made the First Varsity 8+, which was bound for Boston for Head of the Charles. With the wonderful coaching and a great group of rowers, I was lucky enough to go to Sarasota for Youth Nationals in a U17 4+. That same 4 also took on Head of the Charles this same year, making my third and forth seasons by far and away the most eventful. While my time rowing at Shrewsbury is far from over, I am dead-set on continuing rowing and excited to see where it takes me.

But rowing isn’t everything. My other extracurricular commitment is Boy Scouts, something which I have cherished and worked at for nearly 7 years now. Scouting has always been a constant for me, and has greatly helped me grow and develop throughout my life. While I used to be the little young scout working with the older scout leaders, my role in the troop is very much reversed today. I worked as a Den Chief introducing younger Cub Scouts to the troop and helping out at their various events. Now, I take on the role of Senior Patrol Leader where I lead the entire troop in events and activities. As a Life Scout going for Eagle, I found myself in the same position as those leaders several years prior, guiding the younger scouts. While scouting has helped me with various skills from knot-tying to programming, my biggest takeaway from being a scout is certainly leadership. 

Next spring will mark my fifth season of rowing, and hopefully using everything I’ve learned will land me a place as a team captain. For now, that’ll remain to be seen. But any way you slice it, I am thoroughly pumped to get back out on the water come spring.