Dear Editors,
The April 30 article by Tony Raffa in the Observer reaffirmed my commitment to start a WCHS Crew team.  My interest in rowing was piqued after I attended the Navy Rowing Camp last summer.  I could not stop thinking about the open water and the blue sky, so I took up sculling in the summer and became a licensed sculler.  To me, nothing brings more pleasure than rowing on the open water.   Therefore, I tried to organize a WCHS crew team last fall, but it did not quite work out.  Instead, I rowed with the Montgomery Blair High School Crew Team in the fall.  My dream of having our own WCHS Crew Team was revived by Mr. Raffa’s article.  According to him, 80 percent of the students surveyed indicated that they would like to have a crew team at WCHS.  I hope this means that many would join and practice with the team.  Crew is a team sport, so we need a critical mass of CHS students to form a team (4 or 8 rowers and a coxswain per boat).  Please let me hear from you if you are interested in rowing ([email protected]).
I learned from Mr. Kelley that Crew is not considered a varsity sport and is not sponsored by MCPS.  This means that Churchill will not sponsor crew.   Thus, the Crew Club cannot be officially affiliated with WCHS.
Coincidentally, I found out this week that Alisa Dan, a sophomore, is also interested in starting a crew club and has submitted a club application to Churchill.  How wonderful! Several of her friends are also interested in rowing, so there is a good chance that we will have a core group of kids to get started.  It is not easy to start something from scratch, but Alisa and I (and our mothers) will work together closely to get things going.  We cannot do this alone, so please help spread the word and volunteer to help.  We want to represent the Bulldog spirit on the Potomac River.
Julianna Hsing
Class of  2012