Carly Prahl '22 Recruiting Profile

If you’re looking for me to talk about how great I am, I’m telling you right now that that’s not the kind of person I am or what I do. I look good on paper only because of how hard I work for it. I’m not doing the extracurriculars I’m doing to look good on a college application, I do them because I enjoy them. I’m not going to use this opportunity to tell you everything I do but instead what it all means to me. With school, I keep up a good work ethic and challenge myself. I was switched to a rapid learner program in the second grade and started the IB program in 6th grade. I’m aiming for IB Diploma program and want to continue challenging myself studying in the field of architecture and structural engineering. But I’ve never been more challenged than I am at the crew.

I’ve gone through multiple sports. When I was little I played soccer and stopped at age 4 to do karate. I got my black belt at age 10 and learned to defend myself, I moved onto tennis but stopped after a little less than 2 years because I didn’t feel it was a team sport. And then I started a crew. When I was 7th grade my neighbor, who was 5 years older than me, would come home from crew every day and hang out with these super tall girls. I was intrigued and so she suggested I come to watch her practice. I sat on the launch of the varsity women’s coach and watched them all stand in the boat to have some fun. I immediately wanted to try it out. In 8th grade, I did a year of the middle school rowing program as a rower and as a coxswain and in spring I joined novice as a rower. I wasn’t doing the best on the erg so I switched to coxing two weeks in. At first, I held onto the fun memories I had in the middle school program. But as it progressed I realized how competitive and serious it was. As I matured and went into varsity I adopted a very curious mindset. I had never struggled with any sport nor had I struggled with school. But for some reason, I couldn’t get the hang of coxing. What kept me in was the interesting fact that rowing is the only sport you’re gonna find with a position that isn’t physical. I find it crazy that you just sit there and you’re doing so much. With a crew as a challenge, I want it to be something that continues to challenge me and has new things around every corner fo me to come across. I want to be a part of the boat and contribute using only my words and my voice. I don’t want to be just another 110 pounds my teammates have to lug through every race. That’s why I keep doing it, because whatever boat I’m in, I want the rowers in that boat to enjoy being there and if I can help that I will. If I can make the boat just a little more set or help them row even a little bit better, that’s my goal. Although I find the crew very intriguing, it is not my whole life. I am more than just a coxswain.

Ever since I was little I loved to draw and I loved to be creative. I never got to take a professional art class until I was in 8th grade. And now I’m taking my high school art course. Art is something that I use to explain things I do or how I’m feeling when I can’t quite put it into words. I like visuals and I like to use visuals and how something looks to get a message across. It is also a challenge for me because it’s something that you never quite master. It is also something that is very fluid and moldable to whatever you want it to be. Everyone has their own art style and it’s always changing and what I begin to realize it that it almost reflects off of what that person is or what kind of personality they have. And I find that so cool and interesting. And along with my creative side, I find music and sound quite the same. I’ve been in the band since 4th grade. I’ve played flute all of those years and just recently I’ve taken up playing piccolo for my high school band and also learning french horn. I want to learn french horn because it’d help my high school band since we have no french horns, and also it’d help this camp I go to every year that doesn’t have a counselor that can help the kids who play the french horn. I try to practice playing the piano whenever I’m at my aunt’s house since I don’t have one yet. And I still have sights set on learning to play percussion and guitar. What I find amazing about music is how, like art, it can relay a message or a story without words. I love hearing the story a composer was thinking of as they wrote it. Currently, my high school band is playing a Berlioz symphony that has 3 parts of its story. It’s about a boy getting led to the guillotine for being accused of killing his beloved who turns out to be a witch. 

All of my coaches, my karate coach, my tennis coach, and now my rowing coach, all say that I am extremely coachable. I hold myself to a high standard and challenge myself to keep searching and to stay curious. I want to see how far I can go and I want to explore everything that I find interesting. I believe very strongly that what you want you can only work for. And that why would you do it if you’re not going to enjoy it. That’s who I am.