SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Adrienne Lohe '13 (AL) worked her way up from a novice as a freshman to a team captain in her senior year on the Santa Clara women's rowing team. Her hard work and determination helped the women's rowing program get going in the right direction. As a recent graduate, Lohe has been busy and caught up with SantaClaraBroncos.com (SCB) to chat about what she has been up to since graduating last June.
SCB: What are you doing now?
AL: Right now I am working at a small company in my hometown as a research and marketing associate. I was an Environmental Science major, and this position isn't exactly in my field, but I just finished an internship at the Smithsonian Institute National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., which was amazing. I am also looking forward to starting graduate school in Marine Biology next fall at Boston University.
SCB: What was your favorite memory of rowing at Santa Clara?
AL: I think my favorite memory of rowing at SCU has to be during my sophomore year at the 2011 WIRAs (Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association). I was in the lightweight 4 race with Laurel Schuster and three other girls. We hadn't really spent much time practicing in our lineup, but we were optimistic about our chances and so excited about the possibility of medaling. It was a final-only race, and we were up against four other boats. Within the first minute of starting the race, our boat caught a crab (one oar got stuck in the water – a.k.a. a rower's worst nightmare) and fell back into fourth place. We managed to get back into our rhythm almost immediately, though, and steadily crept up on the other boats. Within the last 500 meters of the race, we were sprinting it out with the boat next to us for first and giving it all we had. We ended the race 0.3 seconds behind the other boat for second, but it was still such an amazing feeling coming from behind and definitely the most exciting race of my life. We were ecstatic to have silver medals.
SCB: What did being part of the rowing team teach you?
AL: Being part of the rowing team taught me that being successful requires hard work. Being on the rowing team, waking up at 5am for six days a week for four years, practicing two to three times each day, and learning the limits of my physical abilities was incredibly difficult. During my senior year, I saw all that work pay off. After working my way up from a novice, I became one of the strongest members of the team and was proud to become a team captain. I use this lesson daily. Its not easy being a recent graduate - applying to highly competitive positions whether for jobs or graduate schools requires lots of hard work and can be pretty discouraging at times. My experience as a rower helps me to remember that we all have to start somewhere, and after consistent hard work we can get to where we want to be.
