OBHS rower heading off shore - twice!
By Reuben Cook | Posted: Wednesday May 18, 2022
The long wait is finally over.
Over the last year I have spent hours on zoom talking to various colleges overseas before finally applying to Princeton University in October 2021. On December 16th, I was given an early action admission letter to be in the Princeton class of 2026 starting August this year. Prior to leaving, I have also been very busy.
In February I was selected to represent New Zealand again, this time at the 2022 Under 23 World Rowing Champs in Varese, in the Men's Lightweight double sculls. At 18 this is an absolutely amazing opportunity for me to represent my country overseas, after last year not being able to travel overseas, it has been long worked for. In the build up to the World Champs, I have currently relocated to Cambridge for 11 weeks to train at Rowing NZ. I will be alongside the other NZ rowers and OBHS old boy Ben Mason preparing for the World Champs. Juniors through to elites, rubbing shoulders in the same facility. It will benefit me immensely to be in that environment.
After being named in the team, I unfortunately caught Covid 19. However, this allowed me to travel over to visit Princeton before my campaign began on my 48 hour official visit. The journey began here in Dunedin with 24 hours of travelling before reaching Newark airport at 2am local time where the assistant coach drove me 45 minutes to Princeton, New Jersey. Unsure just how jet-lagged I was, I finally managed to get some sleep before starting my visit at 11am. Whilst I was there, I got to spend the two days being shown around by my new crewmates. This included enjoying the 'all you can eat' buffets at every meal, going to see trainings, tour of the college and even being dragged into some lectures. I got to meet the only other kiwi at the college and it was nice to hear a familiar accent. The university was amazing and definitely something I couldn't really believe until I was there. Each day there are no classes held between 4 and 7pm to allow athletes of all sports to train which I think was really unique keeping both sports and academics separate. I'm yet to know what I will study but I am interested in studying molecular biology and psychology.
Thank you to everyone at the school who helped make this possible.
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