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One, two. One, two.

The bow of a boat cuts through the early morning water on the Connecticut River. A group of Mount Holyoke rowers work in unison as they propel their shell forward a few meters at a time. The crispness of the air bites a bit with each drop of river water that hits their faces.

For Piper LaPointe, they are just happy to be here in this moment, working hard with their teammates and their coach to represent Mount Holyoke in an upcoming race. They have learned to take nothing for granted.

LaPointe almost didn’t come to Mount Holyoke. They loved everything about the school, from its location to the College encouraging its students to be civically engaged and community minded. However, just days before decision day, LaPointe was still involved in a mental tug-of-war between two schools.

A late-April visit back to Mount Holyoke finally declared one a winner. Following a last-minute tour, LaPointe and their mom began to walk back to their car when the feeling set in. They turned around and marched back into the admission office to let the staff know they would accept their admittance before the deadline. The relief was palpable for everyone involved.

“I remember them saying how disappointed they were when I initially left, that I was such a perfect Mount Holyoke student,” recalled LaPointe. “When I walked back into the welcome center, it culminated in the perfect moment of them knowing I belonged here and me realizing that I belonged here.”

The rest is history.

LaPointe quickly found a home not only at Mount Holyoke but also on the .

A laser-focused student coming out of high school, LaPointe thought they might need more balance in their life in college. They had never participated in rowing before but were welcomed onto the team with open arms.

“Being on a team and finding the people I felt I really related to changed this experience for me,” said LaPointe.

Laughing, they continued, saying, “Of course I still do all of my homework, but I’ve learned to balance out my life through rowing. I prioritized relationships, and I have genuinely appreciated how others walked alongside me during my time at Mount Holyoke.”

Coming out of the turbulent pandemic break, LaPointe found comfort in the consistency of rowing amid the adjustment of returning to in-person classes. They credit first-year head coach, Cara Murphy ’14, with assisting in the challenge and providing leadership growth opportunities that have benefitted them in more than just sports.

Learning to lean into the uncomfortable moments of personal growth has pushed LaPointe toward the finish line at Mount Holyoke. They have delicately balanced the rigors of competing as an NCAA Division III athlete while also majoring in two starkly different academic disciplines. They have always enjoyed the right-or-wrong nature of mathematics, but it was in their gender studies classes that their worldview shifted entirely.

It’s why they are looking forward to becoming an educator.

“I want to take all of the ideas I have learned at Mount Holyoke and instill them into my own classroom someday, to help the next generation understand the intersectionality of the world long before I did. It speaks to how Mount Holyoke has prepared me for the future,” added LaPointe.

They plan on pursuing a national education program that places teachers in communities that need them.