Row NY Novices Gear up for First Race

Once a week, I get out to the boathouse and am reminded of why I love Row NY so much. There's nothing better than being on the water. The fall is especially pretty, watching the sun set, and the leaves on the trees are all sorts of browns and oranges. The coaches are wonderful--funny, kind, dedicated, and smart. But the girls are, hands down, the best part. Without fail, they always make me happy. Just being in their company for a few hours is uplifting.

This novice 8 (pictured above) is learning to feather, preparing for their first big race---the Halloween Regatta--tomorrow! Stay tuned, more pictures coming.

Row New Yorkers at Girls' Leadership Day

Row New Yorkers attended Girls' Leadership Day on Saturday with our Development Director, Kathleen Klock. The event focused on economic empowerment and featured interactive workshops and discussions with female leaders. Our girls are pictured here with two jewelry designers who created their own businesses. Thanks to the New York Women's Foundation for hosting!

Row New York Event Big Success!

(Kennise Farrington & Rosie Perez)

I will admit it, I was a little bit worried that the rainy cold weather and the recession would put a damper on our annual fall event on Thursday. I am happy to report, though, that it was a wonderful night! Our event chairs, board members, and supporters were not deterred by the weather and showed up to show their support and enthusiasm for Row New York! Big thanks to all!

Row New York Fall Event!

Buy tickets for Row New York event here!

Row New York Parents' Dinner

On Saturday night, we crammed 60 Row New York parents into our office for our annual Parents' Dinner. Previn sent the girls down the street for a pizza dinner and the parents stayed behind for yummy Italian food and wine. The evening ended with erg races (see above for Previn taking on an 8 year old). We have a great group of parents this year and fun was had by all!

Row New York Event is Next Thursday!

Please join us next week! You can buy tickets here.

Row New York Seniors Meet Their Mentors!

Thanks to a group of wonderful women who have volunteered to be writing mentors this fall, all of our seniors are well on their way to having top notch essays to submit with their college applications. Melissa (our Academic Director) is piloting this initiative in an effort to give our seniors one on one help through this important process. The pairs met for the first time during a luncheon on Saturday at our offices. The group was led by volunteer extraordinaire, Kara Courtois, a rower and counselor with "College Coach". BIG THANKS to our great volunteers and GO seniors....we know fall of your senior year comes with a lot of stress, but we know you're all going to do great things!

Row New York Event is Next Thursday!

You can buy tickets here.

Don't Take This on the Subway

This is a picture of Melissa leaving the office today for practice. We can't get packages mailed to the boathouse so we end up carrying some pretty random things on the train. Today reminded me of a day about five years ago when our offices were located next to Ground Zero. I ran out the door with two new gas cans (like the one Melissa is holding) and headed down to the subway. I jumped on the uptown #4 train and everyone cleared out of the car. I mean, they literally opened the doors on either end and made their way to the next cars and I was left alone with my gas cans. Even as a native New Yorker I couldn't really blame my fellow passengers....I mean, two gas cans on the subway???!! What was I thinking? I like the fact that Melissa also had an extension cord with her today.

First Day With Fall '09 Novices

So we not only survived our Western pilgrimage across Meadow Lake, we now have 40+ novices rowing out of the big blue house! Props to Previn and Melissa for getting this group off the ground without a hitch (or water, electricity, or a real toilet). Who really needs all these frills when we can finally walk boats straight out of the boathouse and down to the dock without making a four point turn? Anyway, the new group of novices is great. They have wonderful energy and seem to know one another quite well already thanks to Melissa and her ingenious ideas (and Starbursts). For the rowers out there, this video shows the novices completing one of their first sets of jumpies. Oh, how we long for the days when jumpies were new and funny, right?