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Olympic Gold Medalist, September 2008
Mary Whipple, former Orangevale student and current Olympic gold medalist, visited our school in early September 2008 to share her story.
Beginning fourteen years ago at the local rowing club, Mary decided to give rowing a try. As time went, she became most interested in being the coxswain for the eight-person rowing event. Other coaches took notice, too. Striving to be the best she could possibly be, she worked her way up to the high school level, on to the college level, and finally to the national level, where she was selected to be the national women's team coswain for the eight-women rowing event. The coxswain is the pilot and vocal leader of the eight-woman rowing event.
 
Four years ago, she was on the national team, representing the United States at the Athens Olympics games. The United States took second place, and Mary came home with a silver medal.
For the past two years, she has been training full-time with the national team at Princeton University. Just a month ago, she again represented the United States at the Beijing Olympic games. This time the United States took first place.
 
Mary had her gold medal with her during our assembly and was very cordial and friendly with the students, allowing them to see it close up. The motto for her talk was "Strive for the best. Don't settle for sort-of okay. Be the best you can possibly be."
GREAT THINGS IN LIFE REQUIRE GREAT EFFORT.
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