by RNY Manhattan varsity rower Deborah Pantaleon
What will you be when you grow up?
As kids, we answered a princess, a firefighter, or even the President. A couple of years ago, we probably said something more realistic, like a doctor, a lawyer, or maybe even a teacher. Now, a year and a half away from college and actually having to decide, most of us don’t have an answer anymore. Why? Because having to think about what you’ll be doing for the rest of your life is a scary thought. Most adults tell us that we shouldn’t worry about it just yet and that we have plenty of time to make up our minds. But the truth is, a lot of us think about it quite often, and going into college with at least an idea of what you’ll be studying certainly couldn’t hurt. Thankfully, as part of the Row New York community, we have people around us who are more than willing to help us make up our minds, and reach our goals.
A couple of weeks back, the Juniors of both RNY Varsity teams were invited to a Women’s Professional Dinner held at Maverick Capital last Thursday night. As part of the event, we all had to dress professionally, and be ready to interact with women who work in various fields as a way to learn more about different career paths. I can personally say that the dinner was a success. Not only did the athletes (including myself) meet successful women with very different and intriguing jobs, we also got the chance to learn more about the professional world, and what it’s like to be a professional woman.
As part of the event, the girls were paired up with professional “mentors” for the night. We had the opportunity to ask a ton of questions about their current jobs, career paths, and even college. I was lucky enough to be paired up with someone who works in the writing industry, which I am quite interested in. I was able to ask her about the process of writing books, what college was like, and so many more questions that I can’t ask just anyone because they wouldn’t understand. Here was a woman who I could completely relate to, and who actually understood what it’s like being a storyteller. In the 20 minutes or so that we had together, I think I learned more about the creative writing process than I have ever learned in my English classroom.
After the one-on-one sessions, everybody came together not only to eat (a delicious) dinner, but to also talk about women specifically in the professional world.
It’s the 21st century. Meeting a stay-at-home mom is not rare. But meeting a professional mom who works in an office seems to be becoming more and more common every day. While we were eating dinner, we also got the chance to ask the women questions relating this topic. The one thing that struck me the most was when one of them talked about how women, more often than not, can never see how much they’ve accomplished in maybe just a short week, or maybe even a month. When someone asks “how was your week?,” women have a tendency of saying all the things that went wrong, but never the things that we did right. Men, on the other hand, will talk positively about the simplest things. That night, I learned that next time somebody asks me about my week, to just think about at least one thing that I accomplished, and talk about that because chances are the person asking is most likely actually interested – and I should be proud of what I’ve done!
As part of the RNY family, I’ve learned that there will always be somebody behind me, supporting the things that I do. Whether it’s a coach, a tutor, or a teammate, there will always be someone who thinks your goals and dreams are not as crazy as others make them out to be. And truthfully, this dinner just strengthened that belief. Meeting so many successful women and knowing that I have my team’s support only made me even more excited about what the future might bring.
