Kelsey Weaver '22 Recruiting Profile

My family has been a major influence in my life, teaching me to work hard, persevere and achieve the goals I set for myself. My mom was the first person in her family to graduate from college. Her parents were the first people in their families to graduate from high school. My maternal grandfather was Tlingit Indian and attended a government boarding school for Alaska Natives. He suffered the effects of being removed from his home, assimilation, racism and poverty. All that my family has overcome has taught me that the past does not dictate the future and that my challenges don’t limit what I can do or define who I am. On my father’s side of the family, I am the first person to want to compete at this level. I started to row at the beginning of my sophomore year and didn’t expect to see myself progress this far in just one year. I fell in love with the routines of rowing, the responsibility you have to yourself and your teammates, and feeling the speed of the boat making the hard work and all of the training worth it. 

I have learned to advocate for myself and how to adapt to difficult situations in rowing, and how to communicate with coaches and adult figures effectively. My academic goals for high school are to achieve a 3.5 GPA or above, and I want to pursue a major in engineering in college. Obstacles I have had to overcome is my diagnosis of high functioning autism at the age of three and a half. I couldn’t communicate as well as a two-year-old as I was advancing towards the age of four, and all of the odds were against me saying that I would be limited to the basics in life. I have had to develop a solid work ethic to get where I am today, and my journey has only made me stronger mentally so I can take on which ever challenge faces me. The skills and characteristics I possess are a strong work ethic, concentration, communicating objectively and not personally, self-disciplined, very coachable, and teamwork. I know that I can add more positive than negative attributes to your team!