Full Steam Ahead

How Honors and Rowing Instill Dedication, Ambition, and Teamwork 

By Isaac Branch

Born to a family of doctors 1,050 miles away, first-year honors student Kendall Doerr keeps her path straight by powering through obstacles on the water and in the classroom.

Growing up in Houston, Texas, Doerr competed in basketball and then in water polo but didn’t receive opportunities to compete collegiately. Nonetheless, holding onto dreams of high-level competition and not wanting to be a “NARP” —  a non-athletic regular person — Iowa rowing got her attention. She quickly began stalking its Instagram and training for tryouts.

The team undergoes a brutal training regimen, first with basic fitness, separating the wheat from the chaff. Afterward, the rowers are molded to their best boating archetype and are taught proper technique. The coaches will select only a few to continue to fire in the kiln that is Iowa rowing with novices placed in boats of nine, called eights.

Leading is the coxswain barking out orders and nipping at the heels of the crew members. Next, the stern pair — the next two in line, the drum behind the mechanism — methodically keeps the tempo. The engine room is in the middle, shoveling coal by chewing up water to propel forward. At the end is the pillar of fire that’s the bow pair, guiding them all through the wilderness. 

Doerr sits bow pair. Not only does boat position fit the rowers physically but it’s also an extension of who they are.

“They have quickly become my sisters, and I don’t ever want to sit in a boat and let them down,” Doerr said. “Even if I’m not the strongest or don’t have the best technique, I will put my head down and row.”

Maybe because of her selflessness, she’s trusted to keep everyone straight. By lacing up her boots, grabbing her lunch pail, and clocking in day in and day out, Doerr

 does so with joy and thanksgiving, instilled by her Christian faith.

Doerr majors in the UI’s famous writing program with a second major in education, hoping to pay her blessings forward. Elementary school cultivated a passion for creative writing, and with her family’s influence, she aspires to do the same for future generations. 

“I've had some really impactful teachers in my life, and I would love to be the type of person who kids can look up to and feel like they not only have a role model but a friend and someone who is there to listen,” Doerr said. “That would be an honor.”

Like a gardener tending to bushes, a teacher has the sacred duty of nurturing students to help them grow. However, one does not simply become a great nurturer of minds overnight; one must toil and sweat to become one — something synonymous with the honors program at the UI.

This mentality to not only fight through challenges but also to serve others can be found at the P. Sue Beckwith Boathouse. 

Due to the nature of the sport, coaches must fuse different personalities into a singular unit. Through elected captains leading some practices and motivational aspects, athletes learn to develop ownership and fight for one another. By preventing ever-cancerous selfishness from metastasizing, rowing teaches a soldier-like mentality on the battlefield called life. 

While rowing infuses a fighting spirit, holistic success provides the artillery. Kara Parker, the associate athletic director for student development as well as Luz Alcala, the academic coordinator for rowing, work to enrich lives. By emphasizing leadership development, community engagement, career development, health and well-being, and academic success, student-athletes cultivate life skills to preserve through eminent hardships. 

It should come as no surprise many rowing athletes are in honors as they truly radiate the pursuit of happiness. Though taking ownership is taught in the boat, it is applied beyond as rowing athletes become team players for life, doing whatever is necessary to achieve greatness.

Greatness is seldom felt through normalcy but instead by flying toward the sun. It’s what drives a soldier to take a bullet, a single mom to work an extra shift, a boxer

 to fight out of his weight class, and a girl to work toward a Division I sport and well-rounded life. 

Doerr does not simply go to school; she gets to and is determined to white knuckle her goals as her upbringing has injected into her. This workmanlike attitude of cauterizing your wounds and squeezing lemons to make lemonade is embodied by all who pursue greatness within themselves, not just at the UI but in life.

“These are opportunities that I’ve been blessed with,” Doerr said.