The 2023 Senior Perspectives is the 18th in a series of annual collections. Senior captains and representatives of teams at Harvard have been invited to contribute viewpoints based on personal experience from both their senior seasons and full varsity careers at Harvard.
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Hometown: Duxbury, Mass.
Sport: Alpine Skiing
Concentration: History and Science
House: Dunster
For as long as I can remember, skiing has been a part of my life. My earliest childhood memories include riding the chairlift with friends and racing one another down the mountain, time and time again. I began ski racing at age 7 and continued to do so for the next 16 years before ending my competitive ski racing career here at Harvard.
My time on the Harvard Alpine Ski Team is one of the more memorable experiences in my life thus far and was the most formative part of my Harvard experience. A unique team due to its small size and co-ed nature, it always felt like one big family.
Being a ski team in Boston poses challenges, but one of the most special things about this experience was how each and every teammate took these challenges in stride, proud of the obstacles we had to overcome on a daily basis to get to snow. Skiing at Harvard taught me valuable lessons about perseverance, mental strength, and time management, but most importantly it introduced me to a group of lifelong friends. Being able to wake up each morning and work towards the same goal was an experience I'll treasure for the rest of my life.
One thing that has struck me throughout my time on the Harvard Ski Team, and broadly as a Student-Athlete at Harvard, is how incredibly talented my peers are off the field, hill, court, etc. My coaches have always instilled a culture of academic excellence in addition to athletic excellence, and this has lifted up each and every person on the team to achieve great things throughout their time at Harvard. As captain my senior year, I tried to emulate this same culture supporting people on and off the hill. This was a foundational culture that was built throughout the 4 years I was on the team, and I know it will only continue to grow stronger. Every day during my time on the team I was challenged to step up and work hard for something much bigger than myself. These experiences made me a better athlete, better teammate, and most importantly a better person.
Now having some perspective being a few months removed from competitive ski racing, I've looked at my experience with appreciation for the person I am because of it. At times, significant injuries or tough spells of not performing the way I wanted to challenged my belief in myself, but not once did I ever consider quitting. Looking back on my experience I realize that the Harvard Ski Team not only furthered my love of the sport but gave me a group of people who cared unconditionally about me, as I did for them. Growing up in youth sports my Dad always used to say "the only person who needs to believe in you is yourself". While this was true, being on the Harvard Ski Team gave me an entire group of people who believed in me too. It has been an honor and a privilege to be a Harvard Student-Athlete and I will take the memories and lessons from my time here into the rest of my life.
