I am a senior at Laurel School in Shaker Heights, Ohio. I began coxing during my freshman year of high school and fell in love with the sport and the role.

I began coxing for the Laurel School Varsity Rowing Team as a 9th grader in the fall of 2021. I continued coxing for Laurel through the end of fall of 2022. At the end of the 2022 fall season, the Laurel Rowing program was paused when our coach took a job elsewhere. Because I wanted to continue coxing, I joined the Cleveland Foundry Juniors in the spring of 2023, where I continue to train now.

I am a passionate artist (www.artbysaschaleiken.com), a creator of digital, painted, and multi-dimensional designs across different platforms, an actor and producing designer of sets and costumes in Laurel’s theater program, and a student of creative writing who loves storytelling of all kinds.

I have been a figure skater since I was five years old, including competitive figure skating in both individual and team competitions. I am a member of the Laurel School Figure Skating team and received a varsity letter as a sophomore. In August 2023 I competed in the Skating Club of Boston’s national showcase competition in the character performance category. I have designed sets and costumes for numerous live skating performances over the course of my skating career.

I am an advocate for social justice causes, including work as a volunteer at the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center (Summer 2022), a co-founder of the Laurel School chapter of Students Demand Action in support of thoughtful gun restrictions in America and Ohio, and a proud member of PRISM (Laurel’s Upper School club dedicated to providing acceptance of LGBTQ+ students and respect for differences in identity, orientation and presentation, and to raise awareness and support for LGBTQ+ issues).

In college, I hope to pursue a degree in theater specializing in production & design, combining my love of art with my love of theater. My career goal is to work as a producing artist in production and design for theater, film and television. In my studies and my future career, I will draw on the lessons I learned as a coxswain to help and serve others, and to be a good teammate in pursuit of something bigger than one person.