April Rower of the Month

Amelia Drake

Amelia has been a member of Carolina Masters since 1998, but she has been an accomplished rower since her high school days!  Rowing port, either as stroke or in 7 seat, Amelia provides a calm assurance to the rest of the boat that we can accomplish great things when we row as a team.  Her quiet demeanor is merely the backdrop for her fierce competitiveness that makes us all row harder. When Amelia is not rowing, she is busy at UNC Hospitals, where she is the chief of Pediatric Otolaryngology as well as the director of UNC Craniofacial Center .   She also holds the Newton D. Fischer Distinguished Professor of Surgery.  She has won numerous awards, including being named the Top Doctor in America (selected by Castle Connolly Medical Ltd), in 2001. Given Amelia’s demanding career, it’s amazing that she can find time to row, but she says that she rows now to do something rewarding in the midst of the greater challenges of life.  She says that she particularly likes the camaraderie that occurs in the boat while working in unison to create speed. Amelia has an undergraduate degree in Biology from Cornell, where she helped to begin the women’s crew team.  She also met her husband, Craig (an accomplished sculler), at Cornell.  They are parents to two young teens, Connor and Cliff. Carolina Masters team members are fortunate to attend an annual “rowing tea” at Amelia and Craig’s beautifully restored farm house.  Her hospitality, and warm sense of humor, highlight how fortunate we all are to know Amelia, both on and off the water.

December Rower of the Month

Jennifer Jorgenson

Meet our December Rower of the Month, Jennifer Jorgenson, who joined Carolina Masters as a Novice in 2002 after learning about rowing from her sister, a member of the Atlanta Rowing Club.  Jennifer has had an illustrative novice career by winning a gold in her first race ever (SE Regionals)  and stroking her first head race (Head of the Hooch) to rave reviews!  With her novice days behind her, Jennifer brings power into any port seat.

By day, Jennifer works at the highly stressful job of nursing.  She explains her typical day as “10 hours of procedures one after the other wearing a 20-pound lead apron.”  She sedates patients while fluoroscopic wires are guided into vessels and cavities that allows procedures that would otherwise be incredibly invasive.  After a day like that, it’s no wonder that Jennifer looks forward to heading out to U-Lake.

It’s obvious how much Jennifer loves to row, but she also has other interests as well.  She used to raise Labradors for Guiding Eyes for the Blind.  She and her husband, Bill, now own four dogs, which give Bill and Jennifer lots of opportunities for walks through the woods because as Jennifer says, “a tired dog is a good dog.”  If that’s not enough to keep her busy, she also weaves with fleece that she gathers from her very own goats that she keeps in South Carolina and shears twice a year.

Jennifer’s educational path is at least as interesting as her current pastimes.  She has studied wildlife biology, architecture, accounting, and atmospheric chemistry—finally settling on nursing degree, which she completed in 1996 from UNC.

October Rower of the Month

  Jan Yopp

Jan Yopp, associate dean at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at UNC,  started rowing as a novice during the summer of 2002.  She completed her novice year this summer with aplomb by winning a gold medal at the Southeast Regionals—her very first regatta!  She is now an official full-fledged rowing fanatic for the Carolina Masters. 

An enthusiastic port, you can often find Jan rowing 2-seat, helping to set the boat as a vital member of Bow Pair.  She’s vital to the club in other ways too.  Jan helps secure our hotel rooms for regattas, and is willing to do anything to help the club succeed.

When she’s not rowing, or thinking about rowing, or talking to her colleagues about rowing, she teaches journalism classes, heads up the journalism sequence within the school, goes to too many meetings on campus, and generally keeps the J-School running smoothly.  And, if there is any time after that, she sells antiques with her husband, Mike.  Jan likes to collect things, and her most unique collection is, without a doubt, the over 100 hats in her one-of-a-kind hat collection.

July Rower of the Month

Patti Hucks  

This month, we introduce our Grand Poobah of the Carolina Masters, Patti Hucks.  Patti joined Carolina Masters in 1995, when the club was in its early growth stage.  At the time, Patti had led a rather sedentary lifestyle and decided it was time to get off the couch and get moving!  She learned to row, and through the years, has added yoga and running to her impressive exercise regime.

Patti is the heartbeat of the club.  She attends every practice (unless she’s at rowing camp or driving across the country picking up a racing shell!), collects our yearly dues, keeps track of attendance and volunteer hours, represents us to the university, keeps track of the scullers’ rack spaces, hosts the annual Christmas party, picks up the trash around the boat house, repaints the boat blemishes when we dock a little too aggressively, organizes our novice lessons, and that’s just the beginning.  And, if she’s not sweep rowing, you’re just as likely to find her sculling in the early morning or evening in her beautiful cobalt blue (not Duke blue!) Hudson racing shell.  She believes in the importance of sculling so much, she donated her Maas single to the club so we could all learn to scull.

Although Patti grew up in New Jersey, eating at diners and exiting off highways by way of jug ears (!), her southern roots run deep.  She eats shrimp and grits and knows the importance of planting azaleas.  She also knows how to quilt and through the years has been collecting signatures of celebrities to embroider on a one-of-a-kind quilt.  She graduated from Rider College with a BA in psychology and came to UNC in 1977 to do work on a PhD in counseling psychology.  If not at the lake, the track, or the gym, you might find Patti at home updating her computerized grocery list, doing a crossword puzzle (what’s the word for a mine entrance?), reading an interesting book, or managing her busy home life with husband, Tim, and three grown and nearly grown kids, Ben, Randy, and Meagan.

Patti is our walking historian.  She has attended every regatta and can recall every exciting moment.  Like rowing through three boats to win at the Head of the Hooch in 1996, winning two silvers at Masters Nationals in 2002, and of course, our recent gold medal sweep at 2003 Southeast Regionals.  She keeps a detailed scrap book of every important event the Carolina Masters has ever experienced.  And even though she might not like sweeping goose poo from the dock, preparing for practice with the anticipation of a set boat with lots of swing is well worth it.

Patti is a true-blue port, rowing often as stroke, but just as effective in two-seat to help us find that elusive rock-solid set.  Although she might not be tall, she rows tall, raising the bar for the rest of us as we strive for ART (Advanced Rowing Technique).

June Rower of the Month

Joanne Caye

Meet, Joanne Caye, our June rower of the month.  Joanne is one of our “senior” rowers, in that she has been a member of Carolina Masters since 1994, the year she learned to row.  As an outdoor exercise enthusiast, Joanne embraced rowing with abandon, even during the first months when, in her own words, she “sucked in the boat.”

With determination, Joanne stuck with rowing and has grown into an unparalleled team rower.  A self-proclaimed “bi-sweptual” rower, Joanne is willing to row port or starboard, and is equally enthusiastic about coxing.  Joanne can make any seat in the boat her own and it’s always a joy to row fore or aft of her.

As a pre-Title IX baby, Joanne takes particular delight in being able to race.  She is a fierce competitor who can regale the team with stories about favorite and least favorite races.  Ask her about the Hooch when her boat won by under-stroking the competition, and then rowing right through every boat in their heat.  Or the time she was asked to row in the “young girls” boat and placed second in the 2000 meter open competition.  Or the race when she first learned that oars were flotation devices!

When not on the water, you might find Joanne in the School of Social Work where she works as a clinical assistant professor, or spending time with her two sons (both in their 20s) and partner, who wants her to move to London or Viet Nam. 

Joanne brings 23 years of social work experience to the university where she teaches graduate students connected with the North Carolina Child Welfare Education Collaborative.  She holds an MSW from UNC and has also done other graduate work where she took classes that engaged students in sensitivity training (with exercises like crawling around in the dark and diving off tables).  Joanne demonstrates this sensitivity (without the crazy exercises) as she teaches our novice lessons each year.  Joanne brings out the best in everyone—rower and non-rower alike. 

May Rower of the Month

Ruth Heaton

For our May Rower of the Month, we go back to the beginning and meet the Longest-running member of the Carolina Masters:  Ruth Heaton.  Ruth’s influence on the Carolina Masters runs deep.  She has taught many of us to row.  She is fearless, willing to take brand-new novices into the pair, teaching them balance, swing, and drive.   Ruth’s exposure to rowing began shortly after she graduated from college, when she started working in Washington, DC.  Walking across the Key Bridge to work every morning, she would watch the Georgetown rowers practicing on the Potomac.  Even then, she began to get the rowing “itch,” yet didn’t act on it because, in her words, “I was an idiot.”  (We all know that this is not true, but it catches the feeling of all of us adult rowers when asked why we waited so long to start rowing.)  After working in DC, Ruth decided to go back to school and left for Rowing Heaven:  also known as Oxford, England.  She showed up for the first day of rowing at Somerville College, and for the next two years rowed six days a week, including racing in regattas all over southern England for the Oxford Boat Club.   Ruth’s holds three degrees in English, and completed her masters thesis on 17^th century prose.  It may not be the kind of educational background one would expect for a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) expert, but that’s what Ruth does now for the Town of Carrboro—a perfect blending of her right and left brain.  This “two-sided” career may also explain why Ruth is capable of rowing both  port and  starboard!  Ruth’s rowing experiences are legendary!  She was four months pregnant when she rowed in the Head of the Schuylkill; she brought her three-month-old baby, Ryan, to Southeast Regionals one year and helped the boat come in second, even though Ryan screamed the entire time she was out of the boat.  Ruth rowed throughout her pregnancy with Ryan because she knew her rowing time would be limited once the baby was born. 

Even though her time is still limited on the water now (with one sports-minded teenager and one energetic early primary schooler)  her influence is deeply felt.   She can often be seen in the early mornings rowing her classic wooden Hudson single, and she meets novices during off practices to help them with their techniques.  When she is able to come to practice, she is willing to row in any boat, in any seat, in any condition.  Ruth embodies the spirit of the master rower, and to her, we can’t say (way) enough!

April Rower of the Month

Lauren Lindblad

Lauren Lindblad continues the tradition of intellectual powerhouses at Carolina Masters as our April Rower of the month.  Lauren joined our club in 2001 and has been a valuable starboard ever since.  Lauren rows all starboard positions but often finds herself as part of the infamous Patti/Lauren stern pair.  Starboards rowing behind Lauren get the benefit of her steady drive through the water and nicely controlled slide.

Lauren began rowing as a college sophomore at Penn.  Originally on the swim team, Lauren found herself in the middle of heated politics over the coaching staff and rather than continue swimming, decided that rowing seemed like it would be a lot more fun!  As a swimmer-turned-rower, Lauren was able to take advantage of those strong muscles and channel her powerful legs and back into the boat.

With a BSE in chemical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania (1996), and minors in chemistry and math, along with a masters in biostatistics from UNC (2002), we often have no idea what Lauren is talking about, but we understand her rowing stroke and the food she brings to our potluck dinners!  If you haven’t already, ask Lauren for one of her Thai recipes!

As if rowing and cooking exotic recipes were not enough, Lauren has lots of other interests as well.  She knits and sews (we are all the beneficiaries of her wonderful winter pogies!), takes voice lessons, plays the violin, likes to garden, and still finds time to swim and bike.  And to top this all off, Lauren competes in ballroom dancing!  We’re glad Lauren took time out of her busy schedule to discover Carolina Masters.

March Rower of the Month

Donna Lisker

Dr. Donna Lisker joined Carolina Masters in 2001 and has been a vital member of the club since the day she joined us.  In fact, her association with the Carolina Masters extends way beyond 2001!  She attended the same high school as Amelia and the same college as Julie K.  Donna is one of our more versatile starboards, expertly and enthusiastically rowing in any starboard seat.

Donna started rowing in college in 1984 as a way to fulfill her P.E. requirements at Williams College.  She had observed rowing many times, both watching crews on the Schuylkill River, near her home in Philadelphia, and at her high school, which had a crew team.  Although she admired the beauty of the sport, she didn’t think of herself as an athlete and so did not try rowing—until the threat of the college graduation P.E. requirement caused her to take second look.  Donna reports that she “was terrible at it for a long time,” (hard for her current team members to believe!), but stayed with it all four years of college.  By the time she graduated she was the team captain, and was considered a bona fide jock.  After graduation, Donna continued rowing, both at her home in Philadelphia and while in graduate school at the University of Wisconsin.

  When not rowing at Williams, Donna had her hands full studying, graduating with a double major in English and Math.  (Talk about left and right brains!!).  She holds masters and doctoral degrees in English. Her dissertation focused on 20th century realist feminist playwrights, none of them rowers, as far as we know!

  Currently, Donna directs the Women's Center at Duke University, a unit devoted to making Duke as equitable, safe, and empowering a place for women students as possible.  She also teaches one course per year for Women's Studies -- most recently Gender and Sports.  She has been married to Paul Dudenhefer for 11 years and when not rowing has been known to sew and quilt.  She loves to travel and hopes to travel to Italy soon.

February Rower of the Month

Kathleen Rounds

Meet Dr. Kathleen Rounds, our February Rower of the Month.  Kathleen works as a professor in the School of Social Work at UNC, where she has been since 1986.  Her area of expertise is public health, particularly as it relates to maternal and child health.  She also has expertise in program evaluation such as substance abuse programs for pregnant women.  Kathleen’s educational experience is expansive.  Not only does she hold the PhD in Public Health, she also has two masters degrees (in public health and social work) and an undergraduate degree in political science.  Kathleen is known as an excellent teacher, evidenced by her Distinguished Teaching Award for Post-Baccalaureate Instruction awarded in 1996.

 Kathleen and her husband, Robert Schwarz, have two children, Noah, 13, and Hannah, 9.  When she’s not working or caring for her family, you might find Kathleen reading about faraway lands or planning an elaborate vacation.  One of her favorite was a family trip to Ireland, which included taking her mother to County Roscommon, where her Irish ancestors came from.

Kathleen, one of our starboard rowers, joined Carolina Masters in 2001, after completing novice training.  She typically rows bow or #3 seat, which she enjoys since she comes from a family of eight children.  As the oldest girl of the boatload of siblings she enjoys not having to take the lead!  Instead, she welcomes the opportunity to concentrate on something other than work.  We’re glad Kathleen has joined our family of rowers!

January Rower of the Month

 

  Margaret Jones

Margaret joined Carolina Masters in 2001 as a novice after completing lessons that summer.  She joined because she missed the joy of team sports participation.  Previously, Margaret had played softball for a decade with the same softball team!  Now, however, she’s turned in her bat for an oar as she rows starboard for us, usually as bow or #3.

When not at the lake, you might find Margaret at her job, working as a land resource technician for Orange County Environment and Resource Conservation Department.  She creates and updates databases, creates maps, and spends a lot of time out in the field.  Early in her rowing career, we were all a little nervous when Margaret broke her wrist while on the job.  But her athleticism paid off when she was able to rejoin the boat about six weeks later.

  Margaret’s softball tenure demonstrates that she sticks with things.  Her life with pets shows the same.  A quarter of a century ago, she got a dog (named Athabasca of all things!), who begot Max, who begot Molly.  This is the end of the line for her life with dogs, however, since she found out she’s allergic to them!  Besides the dogs, she has two cats, Sam and Bee, each about 12 years old (or nearly a century in cat years!).

  There is more to Margaret than just work and rowing.  She was a cabinetmaker for 10 years, and she built her own home!  (With her own hands, no less!)  She even used to sell flowers at the Carrboro Farmers Market!  Her Bachelors in Fine Arts from Carolina and Masters in Landscape Architecture form NCSU College of Design have been put to good use.

  For resourcefulness and creativity, Margaret gets an extra picture in our Rower of the Month feature:  a picture of her house! 

December Rower of the Month

Arthur W Clark

October Rower of the Month

Carol Pardun

Carol Pardun has been a member of our club since taking novices lessons with Carolina Masters in 2001. She is a professor in the school of journalism. She is also our most enthusiastic rower. Carol would go out in a thunderstorm, if we let her. Carol only misses practice for church. As her friends, we are helping desensitize Carol to vulgar phrases and concepts, in an effort to ease her discomfort with the more graphic requirements of her research on the media's effect on teens' sexual beliefs and attitudes. Carol has roped her husband, Gary, into being our launch driver and has brought her daughter to carry shoes and cheer for us at a race. Carol was born in Schenectady, NY but moved all over the country growing up. In high school she played varsity basketball and skied. She went to college at Wheaton, near Chicago and earned her PhD from the University of Georgia. She has two children, twins Graham and Grace, who are nineteen years old and college students. Beginning when they were in the first grade, Carol commuted 66 miles to grad school each day and also competed with the Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association. Carol has raced at two regattas thus far, winning two silver medals. At her first race, we were a little concerned when Carol applied our lucky gold nail polish to her “rowing side”. We weren't sure she was ready to race one-sided. At Masters Nationals, Carol introduced our nail polish to Syracuse, enticing one man to paint his toenails, and it proved to be lucky for them as well. Carol is extremely competitive. We were participating in a breast cancer study and one of the screening tools was a hand strength devise. After asking a member what number she had achieved and receiving a bogus and unrealistic number, Carol proceeded to beat that false score. Carol is always the first rower at the dock, broom in hand, cleaning up after our geese. Her enthusiasm extends to her turn in the cox seat. If she were smaller she would be a great cox, something in which she takes great pride. We are lucky to have Carol in the club; she is a breath of fresh air.