On Wednesday, April 16, 2015, Upper Dublin senior Bart Scherpbier was recognized at a special news conference for committing to row at Stanford University. To view photos of the event, please visit the Photo Gallery.
Bart Scherpbier – Stanford University (Rowing)
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Final list of colleges: Stanford, Penn State
Reasons for choosing Stanford: “Stanford has a top notch engineering program and a very competitive crew team.”
What was the progression that led you to rowing at the collegiate level? “I’ve been playing soccer and swimming all my life, but I started rowing sophomore year in the spring. I was undecided last year about which sport I wanted to pursue. In the spring, I had a strong postseason. After qualifying for faster regattas, I got to experience faster races. This got me really amped up to row in college. I called the coach at Stanford, really liked the program and decided to apply.”
Coach Jamie Gordon (Gordon Rowing Services) says: “Bart’s the last Scherpbier to come through my program. All three kids were great kids, and Bart is no exception. He’s a very focused kid. He’s got a lot of talent that he’s only now just tapping into. He’s going to be great in college. The only problem we had was we didn’t have anyone to row with him, so he had to be a single pretty much the whole time. He’s well suited to singles, and he’s also well suited to the team boat rowing that he’s going to be doing at Stanford.
“He’s very focused, and he’s very thoughtful. It’s very easy for kids to get kind of scattered during a practice. In soccer or football, most kids are on a field, and they’re surrounded by coaches. These kids are on a river, and there’s one coach. If the kids get apart, they’re like a zip code away from each other. The kids have to be very focused, they have to know what’s expected of them, and they have to be ready to give that every single day.
“Bart is basically a leader. Getting ready for regattas, going to competitions, he was the one pretty much making sure no one was standing around doing nothing. He was the one helping get the boats on the trailer and making sure everything was done and keeping the other kids moving.”
About Bart:
Favorite food: Quesadilla
Favorite movie: Dark Knight
Favorite music: The Avett Brothers
- Log in to post comments
