School: North Penn
Swimming
Favorite athlete: Evan Royster
Favorite team: Penn State football
Favorite memory competing in sports: Swimming against Upper Dublin this year – it was so exciting with all of the cheering, and the meet came down to the last relay!
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: When I was nine, I was swimming the 50 freestyle, and I pushed off my flip turn into the wrong lane…I was so far behind all of the other swimmers that the officials didn’t even notice!
Music on iPod: A little bit of everything
Future plans: Major in Biomedical Engineering and then go to medical school to become a neurologist
Words to live by: “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.”
One goal before turning 30: Travel to Spain and be able to speak Spanish fluently.
One thing people don’t know about me: As a toddler, I had to take speech therapy, and no one but my mom could understand what I was saying until I was in kindergarten.
By Alex Frazier
Focus. Focus. Focus.
It’s what Kelly Rogers does best.
The North Penn senior is involved in any number of activities from community service to National Honor Society to swimming to academics.
And, given her ability to organize and focus, it isn’t surprising that she excels at everything she attempts.
Take swimming for example. Rogers is by no means the fastest swimmer on North Penn’s team, but through hard work and dedication she was able to qualify for districts last year in swimming’s most grueling event—the 500 freestyle.
“She does everything you ask of her,” said North Penn coach Matt Weiser. “She’s always the first one out on the pool deck; she’s always doing what she’s supposed to. She rarely misses any part of practice or any part of our swimming sets. If she does miss, she’s always quick to make it up when she can.”
Last year she was two seconds shy of the district time. She missed the cut at the league meet, giving her just one more opportunity at the aptly called Last Chance Meet at Hatboro-Horsham.
Tapering for that meet, she dropped seven seconds to qualify with five seconds to spare.
Rogers started swimming for the Towamencin Swim Club when she was nine. She and younger sister Cara went to their older sister Megan’s meet and decided to join the following year.
“We really liked it so we kept going,” said Rogers.
She then started swimming in the winter - first with the Methacton Aquatic Club and then with the North Penn Aquatic Club.
She started swimming with the high school as a freshman and won her first varsity letter last year.
From summer swimming, she became a year ‘round swimmer, with perhaps a month off in the fall and spring.
Although she has always been a freestyler, it wasn’t until her sophomore year (Weiser’s first) that she began getting into distance. She now focuses on the 200 and 500 freestyles and some freestyle relays.
“She can swim any distance of freestyle,” said Weiser. “The longer the event, the better it is for her.”
The 500 is her favorite event.
“I’m not good at sprinting,” she said, “but I have endurance.”
At one time she also competed in another endurance sport, cross country, which she started in ninth grade. However, in 10th grade, she suffered a stress fracture in one of her ankles and had to have it casted. In the spring, she tried track but didn’t last a week before getting a stress fracture in her other ankle.
When she tried running cross country again as a junior, both ankles fractured again.
The frustrating thing was that neither orthopedic doctors nor physical therapists could explain why it kept happening.
Needless to say, she didn’t try cross country this year. She’s still feeling the effects of the stress fractures.
“I still can’t use fins because it bothers my ankle,” she said.
Even though she is not a captain, she is nevertheless a leader on the team.
“She’s a great leader by example,” said Weiser. “She’s a little bit quiet and shy, but the kids always respect her and look at what she’s doing.”
This year her younger sister Megan is a freshman on the team, which is a nice way for her to end her career at North Penn.
“We get along, so it’s fun,” said Rogers. “We’re cheerleaders for each other.”
Rogers also excels in the classroom. In fact, that may border on understatement. She is ranked fourth of about 1,016 in her class. She scored 800 on both her math and writing SATs and a 720 on critical reading. She is also a National Merit Scholar Finalist.
“I really like school,” she said. “I like math and sciences the best, but I still like all the others ones.”
With those kinds of academic credentials, it’s no surprise that she has applied to some of the most prestigious colleges in the country that include Penn, Penn State, Brown, Carnegie Melon, Duke, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Renseleer, Yale and Pitt.
She’s already been accepted to Penn and Penn State and will have to wait until March or April before she hears from the others.
Having gone to a large high school, her preference is a smaller college.
Her top two choices at this point are Hopkins and Yale. She plans to major in biomedical engineering and then go on to med school.
“I visited Hopkins and liked the campus,” she said. “Johns Hopkins has the best program for biomedical engineering.”
Yale appealed to her because it of its residential colleges. She would live in the same residence all four years.
“You get to know everyone you live with a lot better,” she said.
Aside from studying, Rogers is active in extracurricular activities. She is a cabinet member in the National Honor Society and a member of the Key Club. She has performed hours of community service doing such things as volunteering at a water polo tournament, making wreaths for senior citizens and gift wrapping at the mall.
During the summer she lifeguards at the Towamencin pool.
Rogers is hoping to return to districts this year and improve her times in her other events, especially the 200 freestyle.
Next year, she may swim in college.
“Depending on the school, I may just do the club team,” she said. “If I can make the varsity team, I’d try to do that.”
Swimming has been a big part of her life and has influenced everything else she has done.
“During swim season, I have to focus the whole time to get my homework done,” she said. “Sometimes when I don’t have practice, I’ll be like, ‘I have all these hours to do it,’ and I won’t focus as much.”
One thing is certain – when it matters most, Rogers is the master of focus.
