HOLYOKE — The Care Center’s “Rowing Strong, Rowing Together” Young Parents Regatta is returning for its 24th year on Saturday, Aug. 24 at the Holyoke Rows Boathouse from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The Young Parents Regatta has become the annual culminating event of “Rowing Strong, Rowing Together” — a transformative regional program designed by The Care Center and Mount Holyoke College. The program partners community boathouses with agencies supporting young mothers and has received national recognition for its innovation and impact.
This year, participating teams include young mother from Holyoke, Springfield, Chelsea, New Bedford, Lynn and Hartford. Knowing that young mothers are subject to stigma and isolation, this program fosters a sense of belonging and provides an opportunity to showcase their collective strength and power.
The Care Center is a longtime provider and leader of education and services for pregnant and parenting teens and other under-resourced women. They provide transportation, childcare, food, counseling and care, and onsite associates degree programs. They also incorporate the best of what is offered to students in elite private schools, arts and humanities, science and athletics.
The Care Center Executive Director Oona Cook told Reminder Publishing the organization isn’t just about creating opportunities, it’s also about fostering a love of learning.
“It’s about building resilience and confidence, and developing the next generation of leaders. This regatta is one demonstration of this. Our students are able to stretch and grow and begin to see how strong and powerful they are. When they experience success on water, they bring it back to the shore,” Cook said.
Cook added students’ understanding of who they are and what they’re capable of grows and the transformation not only has a profound effect on their lives, but also the lives of their families and communities.
“Women who were once limited by systemic barriers are now unstoppable,” Cook said.
Director of Education for The Care Center Ana Rodriguez told Reminder Publishing the event was formed by previous Executive Director Anne Teschner who was a rower herself and learned about a community program rowing on the Charles River.
“At that time, The Care Center was in the process of moving into a new direction and shifting from a social service agency into a prep school model and she believed that rowing could be an effective strategy to assist a student body that had fallen out of love with education, fall back in love with education,” Rodriguez said.
Initially, Rodriguez was skeptical of the strategy because at the time, the average student reading level was at the sixth grade level, and she believed rowing would take away from academics. She added that she was also under the belief that rowing was not culturally relevant to Hispanic students and that nobody would have an interest in the activity.
“Much to my surprise, the rowing program caught on quickly, it became an informal ESOL activity in which bilingual students were translating directions and instructions to the monolingual Spanish speaking students resulting in the development of a caring sisterhood community,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said the rowing program ended up building student confidence through finding success outside of the classroom.
“That success bled back into the classroom in the form of students taking more risks, with greater confidence and improving their reading skills. Historically, most of the rowers achieve their high school credentials and move onto college,” Rodriguez said.
Rowing Coach Halley Glier shared similar sentiments on student growth through the program.
“Participants have told me rowing is what taught them how to communicate, how to work as a team, how to have patience, how to try new things, even how to be a better mom,” Glier said.
Glier mentioned rower Jarilyne who came to the group at age 14 and she was struggling with depression. She said many days Jarilyne would struggle to get out of bed due to her struggles with depression but saw that change once she got involved.
“When she started rowing, she formed a consistency I’d never seen from her. She was smiling more, asking questions and shared with the team that rowing was helping her depression,” Glier said. “This is Jarilyne’s second year rowing, and she plans on defending her title in the single race. Getting to see experiences like Jarilyne’s keeps me going and the cherry on top is when I remember their kids and families also get to see the changes I see.”
Glier added getting students to realize what they’re capable of is a common theme when running the program. She said they also focus on the camaraderie of the team and fostering a bond.
“We’ve built in time to complement each other. Once a week, everyone draws a teammate’s name out of a hat and at the end of practice they have to share one thing that the person did well,” Glier said. “At first the team thought it was cheesy, but over time they began asking for more of it. Those last 10 minutes of practice have become our core community building time. We row in boats together, then come back and process it through compliments.”
Student testimonials shared from The Care Center students involved further show the impact being made.
“This program saved my life,” said one student.
“I am beyond happy to be a part of such an amazing group of girls. We can do whatever we put our minds to,” said another.
“I love the camaraderie and sense of belonging on a team. Rowing helped me have an ‘I can’ attitude.”
Cook shared she expects more than 100 supporters and volunteers at this year’s regatta and welcomed the public to join. More information on the event and The Care Center can be found at carecenterholyoke.org or by calling 413-532-2900.
“Although I’ve only been the executive director for a few months, I’ve been attending the regatta for many years,” Cook said. “It’s so inspiring to see how strong and powerful these women are. To see their children cheering them on. It’s invigorating.”
