March 2, 2005

New Haven, CT - The Yale women's crew team is joining up with the Hill Health Center of New Haven to educate young mothers about living a healthy life.

Yale and Mount Holyoke College are now the only collegiate sponsors of the RowStrong/RowTogether program, which the Care Center in Holyoke, Mass. and Mt. Holyoke created in 1999.

The Elis hope to teach as many as 12 young mothers from the teen-parenting program at Hill Health Center to row. On August 20, the participants will row in a regatta at Holyoke, Mass, that will include participants from the Care Center and the Boston Children's Hospital.

"Beyond the development of athletic skills, the baseline is the education towards a healthy lifestyle and increases in self-confidence and self-esteem while learning about teamwork," said women's crew assistant coach Jamie Snider, who is also the head of the Community Rowing Program at Yale.

Senior rowers Charlotte Taft and Amanda Kendrick and freshmen Alexis Fleckenstein, Julie Andress, Semuteh Freeman, Christine Geiser and Emily Cleveland are part of the outreach effort.

In addition to teaching rowing, the student volunteers serve as translators for Spanish-speaking participants.

"It is our goal to challenge each young woman within a comfortable learning environment, thereby promoting [the aforementioned] qualities," Snider said. "We ensure common experiences are shared and goals are achieved at each practice."

Report filed by Sean Singer '06, Yale Sports Publicity