Bonnie Cao hails from the cow pastures of Carlisle, MA, the oft-forgotten little brother of Lexington and Concord. It may not lay claim to the “shot heard ‘round the world,” but be careful come hunting season. Nevertheless, great things have come for her since she first sat in the cox seat as a freshman at Bowdoin College. Since winning the Women’s Collegiate Four at the HOCR her senior year, she’s gone on to take a job as a Research Assistant at Brigham and Women’s Hospital where she concerns herself with bowel movements. At the boathouse she’s a Women’s Sweeps coxswain. Not to be outdone, Bonnie actually claims to have some hand-eye coordination, as she also played squash at Bowdoin, and is always up for delivering a good butt-kicking to anyone up for the challenge.
Aymee Suarez comes by way of the dirty Jerz via Lehigh University and a stint with Penn AC. She’s earning her Masters in Sport and Performance Psychology (mental note: don’t talk to Aymee about the last 500). She also brings great perseverance to Women’s Sweeps, as she won a silver at Dad Vails her novice year after only 4 months in an 8+, having spent the previous 10 months recovering from a traumatic brain injury. Fair to say, this girl knows a thing or two about how our brains work. And she also knows a thing or two about food, having eaten up to 5000 calories a day as an undergrad rower. “Girl can eat,” she said. Uhhh, yup.
Jason Healy is another new member who seems oddly obsessed with cognition, although he didn’t really elaborate about what exactly an “art therapist” does. The Cambridge native who learned to scull at CRI last year is not only an art therapist, he’s downright artsy fartsy. Want proof? Here’s his favorite rowing moment: “Rowing up by CRI under the full moon with herons flying by and sound of the oars.” If you want to join him down by the banks of the Charles for some shenanigans, he’ll even offer to keep you warm with the blanket he wove.
Jerry Yu is a Northeastern student who has some serious identity issues. He was born in Taipei, Taiwan, but raised in Beijing. We think he thinks he’s from both, but we’re still investigating. The Marketing & Operations Associate… wait I thought he was a student? Nevermind. Jerry decided to join Riverside after getting pumped up watching the Crusher Casey race. He just started throwing money at Kit, and the rest is history. He’s web savvy, and hopes to help the club with IT, communications and social media. This Renaissance man has also been playing four different string instruments for over 10 years. Just make up your mind already, Jerry.
Meghan Brundage is a lovely biomedical researcher, originally from Hampton, VA (which Google maps will tell you is awfully close to a NASA research center), who has been stuck in Cincinnati for about six years while finishing her PhD. As Iggy Azalea might say, she’s so fancy, she already knows… Meghan also happens to be a pretty fine rower, having picked it up in high school, continued for a time at Cornell and raced with the Cincinnati Rowing Club for whom she snagged a bronze in the Women’s Masters 2x at the 2012 HOCR. SO FANCY! Meghan is rocking the 1x these days, and would like you to know that she’s actually a cyborg–she’s got 8 pieces of metal in her body. Not going through security with you, Meggy.
Sam Hausmann comes to us from the great white north… or whatever it is you call Buffalo. The Great White Buffalo? No, that’s wrong. Anyway, he’s a Northeastern student, having rowed sweep for four years in high school, who’s now primarily sculling. One time he and his best buddies competed in a seven day, 385 mile row down the Erie Canal in a 4+. Sounds… fun? Clearly, Sam seems to think they breed them tougher up north, as April on the Charles was the earliest he’d ever been on the water by almost a month. Sounds like winter training in Buffalo was also… fun? We think Sam enjoys cruel and unusual punishment.
Next up, Jeff Alex, of Quincy, MA. He’s a designer/contractor. Of what? Don’t ask me! He says words like “ars” instead of a**. He rowed four years in college, then began sculling on his own and has been self-proclaimed, “row crazy,” ever since. He’s so crazy, that when he tried to coach college rowing he couldn’t do it, because the rowers weren’t intense enough for him. Take it easy, Jeff, you’re being a hard “ars.” Nevertheless, he loves, “the feeling of the single under me on the rare moments when I have a good stroke!” In the past, he’s volunteered countless hours at previous clubs and was once named an Honorary Astronaut by NASA. Was it for your intensity, Jeff?
Dr. Kevin Sullivan wakes up screaming in the middle of the night after nightmares about flipping the 1x. “There are two types of scullers in the world,” he says. “Those that have flipped and those that will. I am still in the latter group.” We all know how this story ends. Like Jaws claiming a naive swimmer at night, it’s not a matter of if, but when the Charles gobbles up our poor doctor. On a lighter note, Kevin likes to sweep and scull–he learned the craft in Wilmette, IL, during high school, and has been sitting his butt in finely crafted shells ever since (and had a brief coaching stint with Emory). He loves the rippling sound of an 8+ on a still morning, “as all the bodies are moving in synchrony.” And he’ll really love swimming to shore on that choppy morning when the single finally wins this age-old battle.
