PROVIDING ACCESS, BUILDING COMMUNITY, AND PURSUING EXCELLENCE WITHIN THE CITY OF NEWARK, NJ

"I didn't know a whole lot about rowing. I went to school at Northeastern, so of course I saw the boats and everything out on the Charles River, but I didn't know about the sport. But being there [at regattas] as an African-American woman, seeing my son [compete], and supporting him, again meant everything to me."

"So how do we come together and give access? You think of Newark, a place where talent is everywhere, but access and opportunity is not... It's time for this sport to blow up, and it will start with this team... I hope that you'll join us, and do what's best for Newark!"

"Thanks to rowing... it provided many opportunities for me and gave me access to many doors that I didn't think would be open... it takes everybody to succeed... you know it meant a lot to me because I saw my other brothers that I was rowing with suffering just as much as I was and continuing to go back and come to practice."

"It [rowing] definitely made me a lot stronger minded, to sit down and focus while doing repetitive work. It felt draining at the time, but it [the sport] taught me to be a lot more selfless overall. [Rowing] Definitely, reinforced the single point of, just jump into something, even if you're a little afraid. If you want it, just try it out! Don't be afraid to do so."

"You work hard, you go through some tough stuff, and you create a new space. That's what Benedict's rowing did, they showed up and said, 'We're here, what's up?!' "

"[It's] brotherhood that up to this day we still have! We not only had a team, but we had a family. We became a family that worked and learned about the sport."