Natalie Hines

As her Twitter bio says, “I am an art major and a student athlete, because that makes so much sense.” Welcome to the life of sophomore University of Delaware varsity crew coxswain, Jamie Noce.

In her home town of Baldwinsville, NY she began rowing in the eighth grade with Syracuse Chargers Rowing Club. Throughout high school, she qualified three times for the Scholastic Rowing Nationals and placed 6th overall during her senior season. She was also named a three time All-District Scholar Athlete as well as being named co-captain and MVP her senior year. In her first college season as a freshman, Jamie lead her crew to a 4th place finish at the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta. She was named, “Athlete of the Week” along with her eight rowers. This also led her to earning her first year varsity letter. Bedsides on the water guiding the boat and giving directions, you can easily find Jamie late at night in the art studio.

I got the chance to sit down with the accomplished coxswain and talented art student and here is what she had to say.

N: Explain exactly what a coxswain does.
J: I am mainly the leader in the boat, running through workouts given by coaches, and steering. I keep everyone in line and headed in the correct direction. I play the mental side behind the physical work of the rowers. My key role is to motivate.

N: Describe a typical day in the life of Jamie Noce.
J: On a typical in season day, I attempt to get out of bed at 4 am and pack up for a 5am practice. Returning when every other student usually gets up, I get ready and go to my classes. I then usually have strength training as a team in the afternoon and then head over to the studio to work on projects. By the end of the day I manage to grab something quick for dinner, do some homework, and head to bed at a reasonable time.

The morning of St. Patrick’s Day, dozens of local Delaware high schools filed into Purnell Hall here on our campus.  With their speeches and presentations ready and rehearsed, the students thought back to recall all their volunteer work as a school over the past year.  Events like zumba-thons, dancing events, school volunteer awareness days and even recruiting new high schools to participate in the Jefferson Awards.

The Jefferson Awards date back to 1972 with a goal of creating a Nobel Prize for public service.  Their mission states, “to encourage and honor individuals for their achievements and contributions through public and community service.”  With all the tremendous organizations and groups throughout the country, adolescent volunteers are often forgotten.  The Jefferson Awards then created a program called Students in Action in 2006 that is a national youth leadership program.  It is now active in 325 high schools across the country and encourages young students to become more involved in service.
In order to compete with the Jefferson Awards, each high school must complete 7 goals created by the Students in Action organization.  These goals involve expanding volunteer communication and recruiting various other high schools.

The competition today proved how motivated and eager students in the local area are for service and giving back to their communities.  Schools that do not even require service hours for graduation are currently involved and enjoying planning volunteering events in their schools.  High school students are even creating Facebook pages and Twitter accounts to increase volunteering opportunities and awareness throughout their school.