“I know everyone thinks they’re going to change the world but I really want to try.”

Lauren Sanchez is a senior in our high school who has gone above and beyond the normal routine a student goes through in their time in Pat-Med. Exemplary is the word that can be used to describe students such as Lauren Sanchez. She is the type of student Pat-Med takes pride in educating. She is in the top 3 of her senior class and is a top athlete in rowing.

What is your typical school/practice day like?

“I get up around 4:45 and I have a morning workout that’s generally like a half hour/forty-five minutes, shower, get dressed. I’m usually ready for school by 7. I go through my school day, I usually stay after for either Model UN or band, and then I’m back home around 2:30. I eat lunch because I don’t take a lunch period. I go to practice, a 45-minute drive, usually there around 4:00. I stay there from 4:00 to 6:30. I come home, another 45 minutes, eat dinner, and I’m usually doing homework until around 9:30/10:00. On the weekends I get to sleep in until 6:00.”

What got you into rowing?

“College is expensive, and it’s hard to get into good colleges, so around sophomore year I figured out good grades weren’t just going to cut it, and I needed something else. And I suck at every other sport, I’m really bad with contact sports, I have no hand-eye coordination, so when I found rowing I tried it and I was good at it so I stuck with it.”

So, you only started 2 years ago?

“Yes, I started sophomore year.”

How did you feel at your first rowing event?

“I had rowed for 3 months before my first race and I had 2 races in one day, and in rowing there are different boats that you’re in. You can be in a boat by yourself, with 2 people, with 4, with 8. My first race I was by myself and I think mentally I was really nervous. I kind of didn’t want to do it. It was also a 3.5K which is one of the longer events, so I was like, “I’m gonna die here”. But you’ve got to do it and an hour later I had to get ready for the second event, so I was ready to go.”

Have you decided on a college yet?

“No. That decision should be coming in the next two or three weeks though. I’ve been talking to schools such as the University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Massachusetts Amherst. Last weekend I was in Harvard, Thursday I leave for Stanford, next weekend I’ll be in Georgetown, and then Princeton.”

Was a top 3 class rank hard to maintain while so focused on rowing?

“I actually found that when I started rowing, my grades got better. I think it really makes you manage your time better, and rowing is one of those sports where if you actually look at people in it, they’re all academically above where they should be. It’s very much a sport for overachievers.”

What would you say is your proudest achievement?

“I would say my proudest achievement in rowing would be winning the Canadian Henley, which is a regatta that is the biggest in North America. That was a weak-long regatta in Canada, which we really were excited for, and I won it in the U19 single, being only 16 years old and a lightweight. In rowing there are two categories, open weight and lightweight, and generally lightweights are the slower category, which is why they divide them. But I was racing in the open weight category and I still managed to win that event.”

What would be your motivation to excel in what you do?

“I kind of have a plan for how I want my life to go, which is kind of silly but I really want to get into politics. I feel once I get there I will make a lot of changes I want to make in the world. I know everyone thinks they’re going to change the world but I really want to try. To do that I feel like I need to go to the best college and get my degree and make those connections, which is why I study really hard and I do my extracurricular and I row, because I feel like if I put the work in now I am going to set myself up for success later.”

Lauren is clearly someone who will make great strides in the world, and when she does, we should take pride in the fact that she was someone who roamed these halls as a student, and received their education here from Pat-Med. We all have the capability to do great things, it is just matter of putting the time and effort into achieving our goals. We should all try to make the best of ourselves in the time we spend at Patchogue-Medford. Lauren is just one of many success stories. Who will be next?