Jack Smith, a coxswain, sociology major and rising junior at Harvard University, is currently interning at Row New York as a part of Harvard’s Heckscher Fund for Service Internship program.
This Harvard specific undergraduate summer program, funded by the Heckscher Foundation for Children, matches 25-30 interns each year with a different non-profit organization or government agency, where they provide a summer of full-time service. The students in the program shadow the organizations of their fellow interns. This program also includes community service on Saturdays and the opportunity to learn about a broad range of non-profits organizations, such as Row New York.
This summer with Row New York, Jack is working with Nick Raschella, our Director of Academics. He assists with middle school academics programming and works to create a more structured summer academic program for the young girls and boys. Middle school academics programming increases to 3 hours a day, five days a week, for six weeks in July and August and will include reading and writing discussions. Currently, Jack is working to pair reading samples with writing exercises as well as assessing what tutors should be asking and what handouts and worksheets to use in order to ensure maximum learning and understanding of new material. After his work planning out the middle school academics curriculum Jack will begin working directly with the students in the first week of July. Jack thinks his work with Row New York will provide valuable experience for his future career, either in non-profit work, public interest law, or education.
Jack began rowing in high school as a part of the St. Johns High School crew team in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. He began coxing his freshman year after a friend’s recommendation and hasn’t stopped! As a current coxswain at Harvard, Jack has had major success. In high school, Jack had not thought about rowing in college, yet after suggestions from his high school coach, rowing proved to be something that he wanted to continue. The time commitment to rowing has proven to be strenuous, but his love for the team and the sport has provided many new opportunities and experiences.
Jack has gotten the opportunity to cox at the Henley Royal Regatta as well as earn a gold medal at Eastern Sprints. He considers the final at Eastern Sprints to be one of his most exciting races. “The crew was really committed to giving it their all.” In the category of “most memorable race,” Jack cites the Textile River Regatta where his 7 seat’s oar broke with 2000m to go! He said, “We had to make a decision to race it out and go for it.” His crew was still holding even with other crews despite having only seven people rowing. As a coxswain, Jack also had to steer to correct the imbalance of having only 3 rowers on one side.
For new coxswains, Jack suggests projecting confidence toward one’s crew. Quick, sharp decisions are key in Jack’s opinion. “Don’t let them know you’ve made a mistake unless you need to. If you’re confident, you’re crew will be confident.”
Thanks to the Harvard University and the Heckscher Foundation for bringing Jack in as part of our team this summer.
